The chief executive officer of a telemarketing company in Sherwood, Arkansas has let go 300 employees after the company failed to recover from a ransomware infection months back.
In a deeply apologetic letter to employees, The Heritage Company CEO Sandra Franecke said two months ago their servers were attacked by hackers who demanded a ransom to unlock the systems. Despite paying the attackers what they demanded, the company struggled to get back on its feet. The company could no longer pay wages so the CEO decided to close shop and let everyone go.
The letter, obtained by local news station KATV, is reproduced below in full:
Dear Employees of The Heritage Company,
I know that you are all angry, confused, and hurt by the recent turn of events. Please know that I am just as devastated as you all are, especially that we had to do this at this particular time of year.
Please know that we would have NEVER gone to this extreme if we were not forced to. Now is the time to be honest and open about what is REALLY happening so that all of you know the truth, directly from me, especially since some of you have incorrect information and the spreading of untruths thru social media is damaging us further.
Unfortunately, approximately two months ago our Heritage servers were attacked by malicious software that basically “held us hostage for ransom” and we were forced to pay the crooks to get the “key” just to get our systems back up and running. Since then, IT has been doing everything they can to bring all our systems back up, but they still have quite a long way to g ..
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