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     Social Security's ERE system which attorneys like me use to obtain access to the agency's records on our clients is working. However, there are persistent reports that there are major problem across computer systems at Social Security preventing many, perhaps most, agency employees from fully doing their jobs. I'm sure they're concentrating on what can be done without using the IT systems but I'm sure they can only do so much offline. Maybe something this extensive has happened previously but it certainly hasn't happened lately. This is a big deal and Social Security needs to get out a press release.

     I had posted yesterday afternoon that ERE, the online system that I and other attorneys use to access the files that the Social Security Administration keeps on our clients, was down and had been down the entire day. Comments made in response to that post indicated that many systems used by Social Security employees were also down.      So, where are we this morning? I got into ERE without difficulty a few minutes ago but there were comments, apparently from Social Security employees even this morning saying that many of their systems are still down. Did I just happen to access ERE just as it came back up? Did I just happen to get into a system that's mostly non-functional? What about the systems that Social Security employees use? Are they back up?      I think what has happened or may still be happening is a big enough deal that Social Security ought to send out a press release.

     From a report by Social Security's Office of Inspector General: SSA [Social Security Administration] is developing DCPS [Disability Case Processing System] as a common case processing system for the DDSs [Disability Determination Services]. The Agency expects DCPS to simplify system support and maintenance, improve the speed and quality of the disability process, and reduce the growth rate of infrastructure costs. SSA is using an incremental approach to develop and deploy DCPS. In December 2016, the Agency released its first working software to three DDSs, enabling them to process certain disability cases in the new system. Since then, the Agency has developed and implemented new releases that have provided additional functionality and has made the system available to users in 31 DDSs. In September 2019, SSA made DCPS available to 31 participating DDSs, that, on average, used DCPS to process approximately 7 percent of their workload. DDS Administrators reported ...

     From a recent study by Social Security's Office of Inspector General (OIG) : Our objective was to determine whether the Social Security Administration �s (SSA) overall information security program and practices were effective and consistent with the requirements of the Federal Information Security Modernization Act of 2014 (FISMA), as defined by the Department of Homeland Security (DH S). ...   Although SSA established an Agency -wide information security program and practices, we identified a number of deficiencies related to Risk Management , Configuration Management, Identity and Access Management, Data Protection and Privacy, Security Tra ining, Information Security Continuous Monitoring, Incident Response, and Contingency Planning. Many of the weaknesses we identified were similar to the deficiencies reported in past FISMA performance audits . SSA�s information security program was �Not Effective� according to DHS criteria. ...      ...