Hacker attack shuts down unemployment, labor sites across the US

A massive hacker attack on a software firm in June continues to ripple through labor and workforce agencies in a number of US states, cutting off people from such services as unemployment benefits and job-seeking programs.

Labor departments in at least nine states have been disrupted. According to the Louisiana Workforce Commission in a statement this week, Geographic Solutions, Inc (GSI) was forced to shut down state labor exchanges and unemployment claims systems, and as many as 40 states and Washington DC, all of which rely on GSI's services, could be affected:

GSI President Paul Toomey said in a statement to media organizations, that the Palm Harbor, Florida-based company "identified anomalous activity on our network," and took its services offline. Toomey didn't elaborate whether GSI was hit with ransomware or some other type of malware.

Toomey said the firm is working with third-party experts to investigate the cyber-incident and ensure it doesn't happen again. He said he hoped to bring the services back up before the July 4 holiday, though GSI's site is still offline.

Agencies in several states reported they were notified of the problem by GSI on June 26.

Yesterday, the UK Ministry of Defence confirmed that the British Army’s Facebook and Twitter accounts both were hacked to promote cryptocurrency scams.