The Social Insurance Institution of Finland, known as Kela, has suffered a massive technical failure starting in the early hours of Thursday, April 23, 2026.
Kela is a government agency responsible for settling benefits under national social security programs, including pensions, unemployment benefits, and student grants, making its digital infrastructure critical for millions of residents. The outage has effectively paralyzed almost all of the agency's customer services, including its online portal, telephone services, and remote appointment systems.
Kela's official website is currently offline, replaced by a temporary emergency site to provide basic information. The primary digital service portal, OmaKela, is also completely inaccessible, preventing users from submitting new benefit applications or checking the status of their payments. According to the agency, remote customer service remains impossible while the systems are down.
Despite the severity of the situation, Kela's IT Director Jukka Melanen has stated that there are currently no indications that the outage was caused by a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack or any other form of cyber interference. The agency's IT department is working closely with its technical partners to identify the root cause and restore services as quickly as possible.
The agency has issued a request for citizens to postpone all non-essential business until the systems are back online. While phone lines for urgent social assistance remain open, they are reserved strictly for emergency financial aid and are currently experiencing heavy congestion.
Kela has expressed its regret for the significant inconvenience caused to its customers and advises everyone to follow updates via the temporary information site until a full service restoration is confirmed.
Kela's official website is currently offline, replaced by a temporary emergency site to provide basic information. The primary digital service portal, OmaKela, is also completely inaccessible, preventing users from submitting new benefit applications or checking the status of their payments. According to the agency, remote customer service remains impossible while the systems are down.
Despite the severity of the situation, Kela's IT Director Jukka Melanen has stated that there are currently no indications that the outage was caused by a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack or any other form of cyber interference. The agency's IT department is working closely with its technical partners to identify the root cause and restore services as quickly as possible.
The agency has issued a request for citizens to postpone all non-essential business until the systems are back online. While phone lines for urgent social assistance remain open, they are reserved strictly for emergency financial aid and are currently experiencing heavy congestion.
Kela has expressed its regret for the significant inconvenience caused to its customers and advises everyone to follow updates via the temporary information site until a full service restoration is confirmed.
