INCIDENT: Cyberattack Disrupts Unemployment Services for Tens of Thousands of People in Multiple US States.

An apparent cyberattack on Florida-based IT provider Geographic Solutions disrupted unemployment and workforce benefits for thousands of people in multiple states and Washington, DC. Unemployment payments are delayed for people in Tennessee, where about 12,000 people rely on the program, and in Nebraska, according to statements from state labor departments. In Washington, the outage has prevented residents from filing new paid family leave claims and conducting job searches using a tool provided by Geographic Solutions. In a statement, Geographic Solutions described "anomalous activity" on its computer network but did not specify the cause; the Nebraska Department of Labor called it a "cyberattack." After discovering the activity, Geographic Solutions "immediately took some systems offline to halt the activity," its statement said. Agencies in several states said they were notified of the problem by GSI on June 26.

The incident is the most recent in a growing pattern of software supply chain attacks, in which cybercriminals target one company with the intention of infecting its partners and clients later on, basically widening the malware's system vulnerabilities.

Incident Date

June 26, 2022

Location

United States

Estimated Cost

Estimated restoration time is within 72 hours, benefit payments suspended.

Victims

Type of Malware:

Threat Source:

No threat source identified

References:

  • Employment and Labor Websites Across the US Are Offline Due to Cyberattack — How Many States are Affected?
  • Cyberattack shuts down unemployment, labor websites across the US
  • Cyberattack Shuts Down Unemployment Services Across US
  • Apparent cyberattack disrupts unemployment benefits in multiple states

Industries:

Government

Impacts

IT

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