A Massive Accounting Hack Kept Clients Offline and in the Dark

Dutch company Wolters Kluwer NV makes the software on which many of the world’s small and mid-sized accounting firms run. Earlier this week, a cyberattack took down that software and presented a case study in how not to communicate with customers over a hack.

The company told its followers on Facebook and Twitter on May 6 that, out of caution, it’d taken some of its cloud-based software applications offline. But the opaque 48-word statement didn’t explain why, and left customers frustrated and worried.