One payroll platform, hundreds of employers, and every worksite employee's identity

PEOs & HR Outsourcing IT Services

A PEO concentrates risk in a way few businesses do: one payroll platform holds the wages, tax IDs, bank accounts and benefit elections of employees across hundreds of client companies.

Talk to Us About PEOs & HR Outsourcing IT 888.792.8080

SOC 2 Aligned

Responsive Support

20+ Years Experience

At a glance

If an attacker gets into a payroll specialist's account or a client's HR admin login, a single bad batch can redirect pay for an entire worksite before anyone notices.

We run IT and security for PEOs, ASOs and HR outsourcing firms, hardening the payroll and HR platform, the client and employee portals and the internal teams who touch funding, tax filing and benefits.

We support providers in Texas and nationwide, and we help your controls hold up when client auditors and your own SOC 1 auditor come asking.

IT that keeps payroll funding, portals locked down, tax filings on time.

You run payroll for employers who run payroll through you. A breach here doesn't stay in one company.

PEO and HR outsourcing IT

Every client you add widens the blast radius

Co-employment means you carry other companies' payroll, benefits and tax obligations on your systems. The calendar is fixed: funding deadlines, quarterly filings, open enrollment. The people with the most access, payroll and benefits specialists, are also the most targeted. Here's what that looks like, how it goes wrong and what we change.

01 · The pressure

Payroll day is a deadline you can't move

Each cycle, client admins submit hours, your payroll team processes batches, funds are pulled and direct deposits go out, while tax deposits run on their own schedule. Open enrollment piles benefit changes on top. All of it runs through the HR platform, the bank's ACH portal and a handful of specialists. An outage on funding day means worksite employees don't get paid, and a breach exposes data for every client at once, not just one.

Fixed funding and tax deposit deadlines
Open enrollment stacks on regular payroll
One platform holds every client's employees

02 · How it breaks

Attackers aim for the client admin, not your firewall

A client's HR manager reuses a password, and an attacker logs into the employer portal to change bank accounts for a dozen employees. A payroll specialist approves a funding change after a convincing call from someone posing as a client CFO. Shared service accounts connect the platform to benefits carriers with no MFA and no owner. An internal user exports a full census file to build a report and leaves it in a personal OneDrive.

Compromised client admin portal logins
Social-engineered funding and bank changes
Unowned service accounts feeding carriers

03 · What we change

Tight roles inside, verified changes from outside

We enforce MFA on the HR platform for internal staff and push client admins onto it as well, with alerts when bank details change in bulk or from new locations. Payroll and funding changes need a verified call-back and a second approver. Service accounts and carrier file transfers get named owners, rotated credentials and encrypted SFTP. Internal roles are trimmed so benefits staff can't run payroll and nobody exports a full census without a logged reason.

MFA and change alerts for client admins
Dual approval on funding and bank changes
Owned, rotated credentials for carrier feeds

04 · The after

Audit season stops consuming your ops team

When your SOC 1 auditor asks for evidence on access reviews, change approvals and backups, it's already being collected each quarter. Client prospects with vendor-risk teams get a straight package of controls. Payroll specialists stop fielding fake urgent calls because the process says no for them. You can grow the client base without each new employer quietly adding risk you can't see.

Quarterly evidence ready for SOC 1 testing
Vendor-risk packages for prospects on request
Growth without hidden access sprawl

Systems we keep running

PrismHR
ClientSpace
isolved
UKG Ready
Microsoft 365
Power BI

Rules we help you meet

HIPAA Security Rule (sponsored group health plans)
ERISA
IRS CPEO program (IRC 7705)
SSAE 18 SOC 1 reports (requested by client auditors)

What We Offer

Comprehensive solutions tailored for Houston-area businesses

Payroll and HR Platform Hardening

Whether you run PrismHR, isolved or another PEO platform, we review role design, MFA enforcement, session settings and audit logging for internal users. We map who can change pay rates, bank details and tax setups, separate those duties where your team size allows and connect platform alerts to monitoring so unusual activity gets seen the same day.

Client Admin Portal Protection

Your client companies' HR admins are part of your attack surface, even though you don't employ them. We help you require MFA on employer portals, alert on bulk or after-hours changes to direct deposit and tax withholding, and give your service team a simple process for verifying unusual requests with the client before payroll runs.

Funding and Treasury Controls

Payroll funding flows through ACH and wire portals that attackers target directly. We lock down bank portal access to dedicated, managed devices with hardware-key MFA, help you set dual approval for funding changes and build a call-back rule for any request to alter a client's funding account or payroll schedule.

Benefits Carrier and 401(k) File Exchange

Enrollment files, deduction feeds and census data move to carriers and plan recordkeepers every cycle. We inventory each feed, move them to encrypted SFTP or the carrier's secure portal, assign an owner to every service account and rotate credentials on a schedule, so no file transfer depends on a password set years ago.

SOC 1 and Client Audit Evidence

Client auditors rely on your SOC 1 report, and your auditor tests IT general controls behind it. We operate and document the controls they test, such as access reviews, change management, backups and incident response, and collect evidence quarterly so fieldwork doesn't become a month of screenshots. Your audit firm issues the report; we keep the controls running.

Protected Health Plan Data

PEOs that sponsor group health plans handle protected health information alongside payroll data. We help separate benefits data from general file shares, restrict access to benefits staff, encrypt it in transit and at rest and support the HIPAA Security Rule safeguards your plan obligations require, with counsel setting policy and business associate terms.

Why Choose LayerLogix?

Serving businesses throughout the Greater Houston area including Houston, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, Atlanta, Nationwide.

Contain Risk Across Client Companies

Strong roles, MFA and change alerts mean a problem at one client stays at one client. A compromised employer admin can't quietly reach other worksites, and a phished specialist can't push a batch of bank changes without someone noticing.

Smoother SOC 1 Fieldwork

With evidence gathered every quarter, audit fieldwork becomes a review instead of a scramble. Exceptions drop because controls are actually operating all year, and your operations team stays focused on clients during the busiest months.

A Better Answer for Brokers and Prospects

Brokers and larger prospects ask hard questions about data protection before moving their employees onto your platform. Clear, documented controls give your sales team something real to hand over, shorten diligence and keep deals from stalling in a prospect's security review.

Funding Days Without Surprises

Verified change processes and protected bank portals cut the odds of a misdirected funding pull or payroll batch. That protects worksite employees, the client relationship and your own exposure as co-employer when money goes to the wrong place.

Our Process

Map every system that touches worksite employee data: HR platform, bank portals, carrier feeds, document storage, reporting tools and the internal laptops that reach them.

Review roles, MFA coverage and audit logging on the payroll platform for both internal staff and client admins, and list the gaps by impact.

Lock down funding and bank portals, then rebuild change verification for bank details, funding accounts and payroll schedules with your operations leads.

Inventory carrier, recordkeeper and tax-filing integrations, assign owners and move each feed onto encrypted transfer with rotated credentials.

Align IT general controls with what your SOC 1 auditor tests and start collecting evidence on a quarterly calendar.

Run access reviews each quarter, test backup restores of critical data and rehearse a payroll-diversion incident with operations and counsel.

Frequently Asked Questions

Our payroll platform is hosted by the vendor. What's left for you to secure?▼

Quite a lot. The vendor secures its infrastructure, but you control who gets in and what they can do. That includes internal user roles, MFA enforcement for staff and client admins, API and integration credentials, exported reports, the laptops your specialists use and the bank portals that fund payroll. Most PEO incidents start with a stolen login or a social-engineered change, not a flaw in the vendor's data center. We focus on the half of the shared responsibility model that sits with you.

Can you force our client admins to use MFA without a support flood?▼

Usually, with a staged rollout. We start with clients who have admin rights over bank and tax data, give your service team a short guide and a script for common enrollment problems and set a firm cutover date per wave. Most platforms support authenticator apps, which avoids SMS weaknesses. We also add alerts for bulk changes as a backstop during the transition. Clients generally accept MFA once it's framed as protecting their own employees' paychecks.

Do you prepare our SOC 1 report?▼

No. A SOC 1 report is issued by an independent CPA firm, and we don't claim to provide it or hold any certification ourselves. What we do is run and document the IT general controls that auditors test, such as logical access, change management, backup and monitoring, and gather the evidence your auditor will request. Many PEOs find their exceptions come from controls that exist on paper but weren't performed consistently. Our job is making sure they're performed and recorded every quarter.

What happens if worksite employees' pay is redirected?▼

We treat it as an active incident with after-hours emergency response. We lock the affected accounts, identify how the change was made and from where, check whether other employees or clients were touched and preserve logs. Your team contacts the bank quickly about recovery, because timing matters there. We give your leadership and counsel the facts they need to decide on client communication and any notification obligations. Counsel makes those calls; we make sure they're working from evidence.

Does HIPAA apply to a PEO?▼

It can. When a PEO sponsors a group health plan or handles plan enrollment and claims-related data, HIPAA Privacy and Security Rule obligations may attach to that plan information, and ERISA governs the plan itself. How exactly they apply depends on your plan structure and contracts, so your benefits counsel should confirm. We support the technical side: separating benefits data, restricting and logging access, encrypting it and documenting safeguards in a way that holds up to review.

How is this different from IT for a staffing agency?▼

A staffing agency's biggest exposure is usually candidate data and recruiters' inboxes. A PEO's is concentrated in the payroll platform and money movement: funding pulls, tax deposits, bank changes and benefit feeds across many employers at once. That shifts our focus toward platform roles, client admin controls, treasury protections, carrier integrations and audit evidence. The endpoint and email basics are similar, but the controls that matter most sit around payroll and the client portal.

Do you provide PEOs & HR Outsourcing IT Services in Houston and nearby areas?▼

Yes. LayerLogix is based in the Greater Houston area and delivers peos & hr outsourcing IT services to businesses across Houston and the surrounding communities, including The Woodlands, Spring, Katy, Sugar Land, Conroe, Cypress, and Pearland. For most Houston-area clients we can be on-site the same day when something needs hands-on attention, and our help desk is available during business hours, with after-hours emergency support. Call 713-571-2390 to check coverage for your specific address.

What does PEOs & HR Outsourcing IT Services cost for a Houston business?▼

Pricing depends on your size and what you need, so we do not publish a one-size-fits-all number — but Houston businesses generally pay a flat, predictable monthly fee rather than surprise hourly bills. We start with a free, no-obligation assessment of your current setup, then give you a clear quote in plain English with no hidden costs. That way you know exactly what you are getting and what it costs before you commit.

Ready to Get Started?

Contact LayerLogix today for a free consultation. We serve businesses throughout Houston, Dallas, Austin, and the surrounding Greater Houston area.

Schedule Free Consultation Call 888.792.8080