American Family Insurance Systems Down – What Happened and What We Know

American Family Insurance customers have faced disruptions and outages to online services and systems over the past week. The Madison, Wisconsin-based insurer shut down several internal systems after detecting “unusual activity” in its network. This left many unable to access their accounts or file claims online.

As an American Family customer myself I wanted to dig into the details behind these system shutdowns. What exactly happened? How widespread are the outages? And when can we expect services to be restored?

Here’s a comprehensive look at the American Family insurance systems outages based on what we know so far

The Initial Detection and Shutdown

On October 20, 2022, American Family Insurance posted a notice stating its technology teams had uncovered “unusual activity” within its systems. To protect data and mitigate any potential issues, they proactively shut down multiple internal business systems.

The company did not specify what type of unusual activity occurred or which systems specifically were impacted. But the shutdowns were broad enough to cause widespread disruptions for customers, employees, and agents

Without full access to back-end infrastructure, American Family opted to temporarily suspend external-facing services like the customer portal, online payments, policy management, and electronic quoting platforms. Their website also began displaying limited notices about the system outages.

Investigating the Root Cause

American Family indicated its investigation into the root cause was still ongoing as of October 23. The insurer brought in both internal IT experts and third-party forensic teams to analyze the situation.

They have yet to officially classify the incident as a malicious cyber attack. Based on the language used, it could be related to a security threat like ransomware or hacking. But there’s also a chance it was simply an internal technical glitch or system failure.

Just before the shutdowns, American Family did announce layoffs across its insurance subsidiaries. Some speculate these cost-cutting measures may have impacted its IT infrastructure or security posture in some way.

However, American Family stated firmly that no breaches have been detected within critical systems or customer data storage to this point.

The Scope of the Outages

The system shutdowns impacted a “portion of American Family’s network” according to the company’s statements. Exactly how much remains unclear.

Customer-facing services like the online account portal, mobile apps, payments, and quoting systems appear completely unavailable. Back-end processing for new policies and claims is also halted.

However, American Family noted that “several components” of their operations continue running. Their website is partially online with outage notices. Phone systems seem active for customer service. And the insurer said policies up for renewal will remain in force despite any payment issues.

For now, customers are encouraged to call for any policy needs until systems can come back online. Claims must be initiated over the phone as well.

Timeline for Restoration

As of October 25, American Family’s systems remain down with no firm timeline communicated for restoration. The insurer said its IT teams will methodically bring services back once their investigation concludes and vulnerabilities are addressed.

Internally, American Family is likely prioritizing recovery of policy and claims processing capabilities first. External-facing customer portals may take longer to come back depending on where potential risks were identified.

Given the scope of the shutdown and intricacy of their legacy IT infrastructure, some industry experts predict it could take weeks to fully restore all systems. But American Family will likely stagger components to minimize customer disruptions as progress is made.

How Other Insurers Have Handled Similar Incidents

Major outages from cyber attacks or IT failures have become almost commonplace recently across the insurance industry:

• In 2021, a cyber attack on Colonial Pipeline forced it to shut down oil delivery systems for nearly a week.

• Ransomware forced insurer CNA to take systems offline in early 2021 as well. It took them several weeks to fully recover.

• A glitch with a software upgrade crashed HealthCare.gov’s enrollment systems for over a month in 2013.

• In 2020, a massive hardware failure at Allstate took claims reporting systems down for several days.

Based on these examples, American Family’s incident seems consistent with other large insurers responding to destabilizing IT events. The full extent remains unclear, but communication and mitigation steps taken so far align with best practices.

What Should Customers Do During the Outage?

As an American Family customer myself, I know the system shutdowns have been inconvenient and frustrating. However, here are some tips to minimize disruptions until services can be restored:

• Document any issues caused by the outages in case you need to resolve billing or coverage problems later.

• Take photos if you have any claim damage or losses during this period in preparation for filing later.

• Call customer service with any urgent policy changes required or questions.

• Check system status updates on their website routinely for return to service notices.

• Have patience – American Family staff is surely working diligently to restore functionality safely.

While an outage of this scale is certainly not ideal, it appears American Family is handling it properly behind the scenes based on the facts available. Hopefully we’ll see services coming back online soon as the investigation proceeds.

Have you been impacted by the American Family systems outages? Feel free to share any other updates or experiences in the comments!