An announcement just issued by Social Security:
Due to worldwide IT outage, local Social Security offices are closed to the public today. Longer wait times on our national 800 number are expected. Some online services are unavailable at this time. We appreciate your patience while we work to restore services as quickly as possible.What about hearing offices?
I am an OHO employee, and we received this:
ReplyDeleteA Message to All SSA Employees
Subject: SSA Operating Status
SSA is experiencing a widespread technical outage this morning originating from outside of our network. SSA offices will be closed to the public today. Employees should work on internal agency workloads and adjudication activities. Components will provide further information.
Employees may not be able to get online and webTA and other systems may not be accessible. Supervisors will accept employees’ attempts to get online as their sign-in times. Retroactive webTA times may be entered when employees are up and running.
Teleworking employees who are having technical difficulties should remain at their Alternate Duty Station (ADS) until we have more information.
Supervisors have access to call-down lists in the e7B application and should utilize their call-down list to communicate this information with employees and advise them concerning the situation.
This update bricked all our laptops. This is much, much more than just a today problem.
ReplyDeleteThis is a global so stay tuned to MENS to see if we have a resolution before Monday. We may be home with our bricks for awhile. How are supervisors going to access e7b from their brick?
DeleteA faulty software update from cybersecurity vendor Crowdstrike crippled countless Microsoft Windows computers across the globe today, disrupting everything from airline travel and financial institutions to hospitals and businesses online.
ReplyDeleteCrowdstrike said a fix has been deployed, but experts say the recovery from this outage could take some time, as Crowdstrike’s solution needs to be applied manually on a per-machine basis.
UH oh.....
This is what happens when the agency is too reliant on online filing. How many employees have completed a paper surviving spouse application? The plan was to hire less employees and push online filings. How is that working out? What happens when the agency gets hacked like AT&T where all the phone numbers were stolen. Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face.
DeleteNot entirely sure this makes any sense. You still need the time to input the paper form, it’s not saving anyone anytime or effort. In fact it’s likely to get pushed aside
DeleteHow many employees with less than five years experience have “completed” a paper application? Do these individuals know the form number? Does management have adequate supply of paper applications in the stockroom if the system is down? These are just a few of the questions.
Delete@2:32pm,
ReplyDeleteA lot of offices no longer even retain stocks of paper forms as there is not room to store them.
So, when the system goes down, those offices can't even do paper claims.
Exactly!
DeleteThe ongoing IT outage that has struck dozens of companies around the world in recent hours could actually take weeks to fix, according to an expert.
ReplyDeleteDoes SSA have a backup plan for weeks of office closures?
Enough with the straw man arguments. Online work processes allow us to accomplish many more things much more efficiently. One glitch on one day does not wipe out the advantages we've gained over the last twenty years. This includes being able to telework more often, by the way.
ReplyDeleteThe hacks and outages are here to stay. This is the new normal. I wonder how the public feels about the office closings? . Has SSA notified anybody if it’s a one day event?
DeleteWe’ve been fixing these all day and restored access to hundreds of servers in my component alone. It sucked but people won’t be out of commission for days. It’s literally a ten minute fix. People need to chill.
ReplyDeleteIt’s literally a ten minute fix? I gather that SSA offices were open today after a short delay?
DeleteSSA said Monday morning back to normal operating hours. It's conceivable the manual updating process will throw things into havoc, and having to make up a whole day's appointment calendar is going to suck. But unless they've truly boofed the response, we'll be open to the public sometime on Monday.
ReplyDelete