Parasol Umbrella seem to have disappeared today

[DaveB]

Is it just me ? But I’m not convinced that this is just a Systems “issue” - is anyone aware of the current financial state of Parasol ?

Highly likely not to be financial. They were bought out by a big venture capital group a while back and every company in the group seems to have issues. Parasol, SJD, Nixon Williams are all having issues.

My money is that they have been hit by ransomeware or similar.

[eek]

Highly likely not to be financial. They were bought out by a big venture capital group a while back and every company in the group seems to have issues. Parasol, SJD, Nixon Williams are all having issues.

My money is that they have been hit by ransomeware or similar.

The Brookson announcement gives the game away - the umbrella firms are all being targeted as they look to be easy targets with a lot of cash flowing in and out on a Thursday / Friday.

[pacontracting]

Together with the Ukraine government it would seem...

[saptastic]

The Brookson announcement gives the game away - the umbrella firms are all being targeted as they look to be easy targets with a lot of cash flowing in and out on a Thursday / Friday.

Or a competitor taking each company out

[WTFH]

Or a competitor taking each company out

Anyone seen Lucy?

[saptastic]

Anyone seen Lucy?

lucyclarityumbrella was last seen attending an ethical hacking course.......

[courtg9000]

Is it just me ? But I’m not convinced that this is just a Systems “issue” - is anyone aware of the current financial state of Parasol ?

Not Parasol, but I heard some disturbing rumours about Brookson sometime back. Brookson and Parasol arent in the same group AFAIK.

[lucyclarityumbrella]

lucyclarityumbrella was last seen attending an ethical hacking course.......

that did make me chuckle - I'll stick to payroll thanks! Dodgy lot these IT folk!

[gruntling]

Recent email

"The root cause of this issue has been identified as malicious activity on our network. This activity did not enter via the core Parasol platforms, but to ensure the safety and integrity of your data, we suspended our systems to protect the Parasol community. As you know, this included the MyParasol portal and our usual outbound and inbound communication channels."

I think he probably meant "did not enter the core systems" and not via?

"Please be reassured, we are aware of our obligations under data protection laws. We will therefore keep you fully informed if our current understanding changes. Our security partner and internal team identified the malicious activity very quickly. The ongoing forensic exercise and investigations currently indicate that your personal information has not been extracted"

[pacontracting]

Recent email

"The root cause of this issue has been identified as malicious activity on our network. This activity did not enter via the core Parasol platforms, but to ensure the safety and integrity of your data, we suspended our systems to protect the Parasol community. As you know, this included the MyParasol portal and our usual outbound and inbound communication channels."

Suspended for five days - and still no sign of any recovery? I'm really hoping they have up-to-date backups. Would an attachment via email be considered a 'core' parasol platform?

With regard to contacting them, as per the emails:

Livechat - doesn't work
Phone - nobody answers - it just rings out
email - nobody responds.

Total mess. I've already been looking around for other Umbrella's. I'd rather work via my own Ltd Co - but the end clients in the financial sector won't permit that model anymore.