Giant clears contractor payment backlog following cyber attack

Giant group says the backlog of payments to thousands of contractors caused by a cyber- attack on its business has finally been cleared.

The umbrella company said yesterday that it had “processed and paid all outstanding payrolls,” and has been “operating ‘business as usual’ since Sep 29th.”

That puts Giant ahead of schedule; it vowed to employees on Sep 27th to ‘aim to pay you by Friday’ but by then (Oct 1st), the umbrella was “still cagey, and still working on the backlog.”

'Outstanding'

A source also told ContractorUK on Friday Oct 1st: “They began overdue payments to contractors on Wed 29th, but are still working their way through the outstanding payments.”

But yesterday, one Giant contractor sounded more than happy with the umbrella company’s turnaround time. He told ContractorUK:

“I'm now completely up-to-date [with payment]. Comms was the issue for a short time, not knowing what was going on. But given the circumstances, they handled payments very well”.

'Not clear if my personal data was compromised'

In fact, the Giant contractor said his only gripe was still not knowing “the potential long-term impact -- if any” from hackers penetrating the umbrella company’s systems storing his data.

“What's still not clear is if any of my personal information was compromised, and what actions they took,” he said. “And what action they plan to take to secure the environment.”

The Information Commissioner’s Office confirmed yesterday that Giant informed it about the cyber-attack – a duty of a data-controller where it suspects personal data it stored was leaked.

'We will assess Giant's informaton'

An ICO spokesperson told ContractorUK: “People have the right to expect that organisations will handle their personal information securely and responsibly.

“Giant Group has made us aware of an incident and we will assess the information provided.”

In its own statement, Giant said: “We would like to take this opportunity to again apologise for the inconvenience caused and thank all those who have sent us messages of support during what we understand has been a very challenging time for our contractor workforce.”

A Giant group spokesperson added: “If any contractors have any queries regarding payments, or the payment advances we have made, they are encouraged to please contact our support team via their portal, live chat or phone.”