Kansas City, Kansas-based Epiq, a legal services technology provider, has implemented a reduction in force of 200 employees with additional cuts pending. Reports of salary cuts and delayed vendor payments continue to circulate.
The proximate cause of the layoffs includes a massive ransomware attack which forced the company to take their systems offline. And, with the COVID-19 pandemic impacting ongoing legal activities.
According to a client communication from the company...
“We are pleased to announce that all client-facing systems globally are back up and running. We began restoring full functionality for client systems two weeks ago, and have now completed our restoration and hardening activities for all client-facing environments.
Further, we can confirm that Mandiant has found no evidence that any client data was accessed, misused, or exfiltrated.
We want to thank our clients for their loyalty, patience, and support throughout this cyber incident. We appreciate you standing by us and lifting us with your empathy and well-wishes.
We have learned a great deal from this incident, including that no company is immune to increasingly sophisticated cyber attacks in today’s dynamic threat landscape, and we are committed to sharing key lessons learned in the coming weeks.
We recognize that, with COVID-19, the challenges are not over. But we are well equipped and well-positioned to weather this storm and adapt our business to continue to meet the needs of our clients and our employees as they navigate the complexities posed by the current reality.
We are prioritizing our employees and communities’ welfare, and have taken a number of steps to reduce the spread of the virus, including moving to remote work wherever possible. As we emerge from this cyber incident, we are confident that our company will emerge stronger than ever."
Change is coming. There will always be a tomorrow, no matter how much you may try to ignore it. There are no guarantees in life or promises for a bright future. Just because something bad hasn't happened yet, doesn't mean it won't. It can happen to anyone, anytime, anywhere. No one is guaranteed to wake up tomorrow and still have a job by evening. Are you now wondering, Am I Next?