New Article on Wolters Kluwer Outage

[Abby Normal]

https://www.accountingtoday.com/articles/a-massive-accounting-hack-kept-clients-offline-and-in-the-dark

[Gail in Virginia]

Imagine that - communication from Wolters Klower was a big issue for their customers during the outage.....

[Lee B]

Not only with their customers but also internally ! Before I left ATX, I had the same sales rep for about 6 years.

The last time I talked to him, I had a very frank discussion about the reasons I was leaving.

He was pretty upfront about what was going on within the ATX organization and he was pretty frustrated about the unresponsiveness of upper management !

[GLJEANNE]

Remember when ATX was just a little company in Maine, with great communications?  The good old days.

[Margaret CPA in OH]

Remember how much they were appreciated? So much that we funded a barbeque to send them and they sent a photo back of them enjoying it. The good old days, indeed!

[minkcpa]

I just tried customer service for ATX, still down! Maybe Monday!!

[Christian]

Has anyone seen any assurances from WK that no client files were lost. I've scouted around and see virtually nothing. 

[BLACK BART]

2 hours ago, Christian said:

Has anyone seen any assurances from WK that no client files were lost. I've scouted around and see virtually nothing. 

Except for the old link posted by Abby and Rita's memos that's about all the info there has been to see since WK has been mostly -- what's that term? -- incommunicado.

[Christian]

An article in the Progressive Accountant states that the malware which attacked WK was a new unknown strain undetectable by existing security software. Apparently to date they have found no data lost. I was unable to pull up a link but feel sure it can be accessed from the PA website.

[Abby Normal]

http://www.theprogressiveaccountant.com/index.php/news/item/5386-wk-malware-was-new-strain

[Christian]

Somehow I knew Abby would cover my ineptitude. 

[Lee B]

5 hours ago, Christian said:

An article in the Progressive Accountant states that the malware which attacked WK was a new unknown strain undetectable by existing security software. Apparently to date they have found no data lost.

If it was an unknown strain, which was undetectable, how would they even know whether any data was lost ?

It's not like someone stole the crown jewels. The data doesn't disappear, the hacker just leaves with a copy of the data.

[GingerM]

Do we need to contact each client to let them know this happened? For tax year 2018 only or previous years, too? ATX only or payroll/1099 clients as well?

[Lee B]

20 minutes ago, GingerM said:

Do we need to contact each client to let them know this happened? For tax year 2018 only or previous years, too? ATX only or payroll/1099 clients as well?

Excellent question, however you don't have enough information to evaluate the level of risk, which is one of the key factors when deciding whether to notify clients.

[GingerM]

I contacted the legal department of WK yesterday via email. They did reply - they recommended calling the 800 # and looking at the articles.

[BulldogTom]

16 minutes ago, GingerM said:

I contacted the legal department of WK yesterday via email. They did reply - they recommended calling the 800 # and looking at the articles.

Not a surprise at all.   I bet they don't know yet if the data is compromised, and even if they do, they are not telling us yet.   If they find out they are compromised, I would think it is their responsibility to notify all the affected parties and give them the free monitoring for a year.    I think we will be shielded from liability, however, we will have an obligation to notify our clients as well.   The degree to which we incur cost in any efforts to protect our clients will be an issue open for discussion.   There have been so many of these breaches in other companies, I think if there is a data breach, WK will handle it just like Equifax, Yahoo, etc.   

Tom
Modesto, CA

[Lynn EA USTCP in Louisiana]

We won't be told, if at all, whether or not our clients' data was compromised until after the 5/31 deadline to renew with discounts !!!

[ETax847]

My ATX rep still has not even communicated any information on this to me. 

[Jack from Ohio]

4 hours ago, GingerM said:

Do we need to contact each client to let them know this happened? For tax year 2018 only or previous years, too? ATX only or payroll/1099 clients as well?

Only if you want to spend hours answering all the questions that will arise.  Most of which, you will not have answers for.

Simple answer: NO.

[Jerome Johnson]

I have been attempting to reach them at every number I have.  I have e-mailed them three times without success.  The service and support number only goes so far and then I am either disconnected or it rings busy.  I think they are out of business,  I am going to give them until Wednesday to community and then they will have lost a long time client.

 

Jerome Stoll

[jklcpa]

Quote

I have been attempting to reach them at every number I have.  I have e-mailed them three times without success.  The service and support number only goes so far and then I am either disconnected or it rings busy.  I think they are out of business,  I am going to give them until Wednesday to community and then they will have lost a long time client.

Jerome Stoll 

I've moved your post into this topic about the current issues since your original post bumped an old one from last fall. Here are two other topics on the ATX troubles and its effects that should explain what's been happening.Check these out for more info:

 

Edited May 27, 2019 by jklcpa