NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A cyberattack on a software company has disrupted unemployment benefits and job seeking assistance for thousands of people in several states.
In Tennessee, the website for unemployment benefits remained down Thursday morning after the vendor, Geographic Solutions Inc., told the state Sunday that service would be interrupted. Some 12,000 Tennesseans rely on the unemployment program, and for now, they’re not getting their payments.
The company said that it expects Tennessee’s system to be back online before July 4.
“With a recession looming, it is unacceptable that Tennesseans cannot receive the unemployment benefits they deserve,” said state Republican Sen. Paul Bailey, commerce and labor committee chairman.
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In a statement dated Wednesday evening, Geographic Solutions’ president said initial investigation findings indicate that no personal data was accessed and no data was removed from its network operations center.
The president, Paul Toomey, said his company identified “anomalous activity” on its network and immediately took the Tennessee system offline to halt the activity.
“With the help of third-party specialists, we are conducting a full investigation to determine the cause and scope of the incident,” Toomey said. “That investigation is still ongoing, and we are taking steps to help prevent this from happening again.”
Unemployment websites in several other…
