American Family Shuts Down Systems After Detecting ‘Unusual Activity’

American Family Insurance shut down “several business systems” after the insurer said it “detected unusual activity in a portion of its network.”

In an email to Insurance Journal, the Madison, Wisconsin-based insurer said its technology teams discovered the activity last week and took the move to shut down some systems. Reached today, American Family said there is no update on the situation.

“We recognize the system outages are impacting customers, agents and employees and we appreciate their patience and understanding,” said the emailed statement.

“Our investigation into the activity is ongoing and includes internal and third-party experts. To date, we have not detected any compromises to critical business, customer data processing or storage systems, and several components of our enterprise continue to operate without interruption,” American Family said, adding that it will bring systems back online when the investigation is complete and it is safe.

Currently, the insurer’s website instructs policyholders to call if they need to file a claim. “If you are unable to make a payment, you can do so when the system is back up and you will not be penalized,” the online notice says.

The news comes shortly after American Family – one of the top writers of home and auto insurance in the U.S. – announced an unspecified amount of layoffs across its five insurance companies.

Earlier this month, insurance rating agency AM Best affirmed the financial strength rating of A (Excellent) of American Family Insurance and its affiliates.