State website for the unemployed is back online following cyberattack

The state of Iowa website that helps unemployed Iowans find jobs and remain eligible for unemployment benefits is back online after a two-week outage caused by a cyberattack.

According to Iowa Workforce Development, the outage was resolved “after close coordination” between the agency’s website vendor, Geographic Solutions Inc., and the state.

Iowans can again utilize the IowaWORKS.gov website to search for a new job and to record their work-search activities so they remain eligible for unemployment benefits.

IWD says the delivery of unemployment benefit payments was not impacted by the outage, but the need for unemployment claimants to report their job searches through the website had been suspended.

As a result of the website being restored, individuals filing weekly claims will again be required to report their re-employment activities on IowaWORKS.gov beginning on July 24.

Individuals who filed an initial claim between June 26 and July 15 are asked to log into the IowaWORKS.gov website to ensure they have an active resume that is viewable to employers.

IWD says that in order to fully restore the website, a “thorough operations and cybersecurity process” took place to safeguard the site and all of its data. GSI has publicly stated that no sensitive customer or end-user information was affected by the cyberattack — a claim that IWD says it has confirmed.

Unemployment claimants with questions about their claims should contact the IWD customer service line at uiclaimshelp@iwd.iowa.gov or 1-866-239-0843.