Conduent, a prominent government technology provider, is grappling with an ongoing "service interruption" that has triggered outages in several U.S. states. The disruption has left residents without access to certain benefits and support payments, sparking concerns and frustration. Conduent's spokesperson, Sean Collins, acknowledged the persistence of the outage but refrained from addressing specific questions or ruling out the possibility of a cyber incident as the cause.
In a statement, Conduent noted that they are "currently experiencing a service interruption affecting some applications while we have restored service over the past few days. The Conduent technology team is working hard to resolve any remaining issues."
The ripple effect of the outage reached four states, including Wisconsin, where the Department of Children and Families struggled to process child support payments for most of the week. Similarly, Oklahoma Human Services reported that their customer service line was impacted by the "technical outage," highlighting the widespread consequences of the service disruption.
Interestingly, this is not the first time Conduent has faced such challenges. In June 2020, the company confirmed a ransomware attack days after reporting a similar service interruption, raising speculation about the current situation. However, Casey White, another state spokesperson, assured that their systems are "working as expected" with "no outages related to security at Conduent."
Despite these assurances, a person familiar with the incident informed TechCrunch that a cyberattack was indeed responsible for the current outage. This statement fuels further speculation regarding potential vulnerabilities in Conduent's infrastructure.
Gina Paige, a department spokesperson, confirmed that their service was restored by January 19 but deferred any comments on the cause of the outage back to Conduent. As investigations continue, residents and officials alike remain eager for clarity and resolution.
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