In Tennessee, unemployment benefits fell Thursday morning after the provider, Geographic Solutions Inc. , announced Sunday to the state that service would be discontinued. Some 12,000 Tennesseans have the unemployment program, and for now they are not receiving their payments, and there is still no timeline of when they will do it again.
“With a recession approaching, it’s unacceptable for other Tennessee people to get the unemployment benefits they deserve,” said Republican Sen. Paul Bailey, chairman of the Committee on Labor and Commerce.
Unemployment websites in several other states were also affected. In Louisiana, other people looking to apply for unemployment online are encouraged to use a call center. The online page for filing claims in Nebraska went offline and the state said it didn’t have an accurate timeline of when it would be subsidized.
“People file an unemployment claim until the formula is back online,” Nebraska Department of Labor spokeswoman Grace Johnson said in an email.
It is not yet clear whether this is a ransomware attack or some other type of cyber incident that affected Geographic Solutions. It’s also unclear how many states are affected.
Geographic Solutions’ online page didn’t work Thursday morning, and phone messages seeking comment from the company were not returned without delay. The Florida-based company said its customers come from more than 35 states and territories.
Some state-run task search sites were also taken offline due to the attack, and Tennessee’s was added. Florida said it temporarily waived a job-seeking requirement for other people receiving unemployment benefits. links to popular task search sites like LinkedIn.
Nebraska said Geographic Solutions had indicated that no non-public user knowledge had been compromised. Florida said there was no indication that any of its state systems had been breached.
Bailey, the Tennessee lawmaker, said the state Department of Labor needed a backup plan, “so they absolutely don’t have a formula that has proven to be unreliable. “He said the state does “whatever it takes” for other people to get their unemployment insurance. benefits now and streamline the procedure of updating the formula with the money set aside by state legislators.
The duration of the possible failure is unknown. Texas said it expects its task search sites to remain offline until early next week.
State governments, as well as their subcontractors, are the target of cybercriminals. Nigerian online scammers have been especially active in stealing increased unemployment assistance at the height of the coronavirus pandemic.
Ransomware attacks, in which criminals encrypt victims’ knowledge and request payment to get it back to normal, continue to wreak havoc on virtual systems that provide government services. it caused chaos in the country’s fitness system.
Last year, cybercriminals introduced ransomware attacks into the United States that forced the closure of an oil pipeline on the East Coast, halted production at the world’s largest meat processing company, and compromised a major software company with thousands of consumers around the world.
Although it prioritizes the problem, the U. S. government has not been a major problem. The U. S. has had little chance of holding the major ransomware players accountable. Many operate in or near Russia with impunity.
Allan Liska, an intelligence analyst at cybersecurity firm Recorded Future, said an attack on those who lost their jobs after receiving unemployment benefits is a stark reminder of the far-reaching effects cybercrime can have.
“The other people who will be most affected by this are the ones with the least resources,” he said.
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Suderman reported from Richmond, Virginia.
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