Aug. 20, 2025, update:
The South Dakota Bureau of Information and Technology has restored some of the State systems knocked offline by a power outage on Tuesday (Aug. 19, 2025), but full restoration is still in the works.
Late Wednesday afternoon (Aug. 20 at 4pm CT), BIT Executive Communications Manager Lisa Rahja (rye-uh) said core networking and storage systems are back online, as are internet access, wireless services, phone systems and the state radio. She said the state government website and Citizen Portal are accessible, however, some connected systems are still undergoing functionality restoration.
Rahja said recovery efforts remain a top priority, and all state agencies and partners are actively engaged in addressing the challenges caused by the service disruption. She said while some services are now operational, full restoration is still in process. As hosting systems are brought online, additional applications will be available following completion of testing.
Rahja said the outage is NOT connected to any type of cybersecurity or hacking incident. She said the interruption was confirmed as a hardware failure directly caused by the outage to the State Data Center, which took down all state-hosted services and some network communications.
Supreme Court declares Judicial Emergency in South Dakota
The South Dakota Supreme Court has temporarily suspended all Unified Judicial System deadlines, time schedules, due dates and filing requirements because of a large-scale technical problem with the State Data Center in Pierre.
The South Dakota court system’s ePayments, eCourts and File and Serve platforms are affected. The UJS’ website at https://ujs.sd.gov is still accessible, but the online platforms are currently offline. In addition, some court office phones across the state are not working. Court filings and payments may still be submitted, in person, at county clerk of courts offices until the issue is resolved.
A power outage on Tuesday (Aug. 19, 2025) took down all state-hosted services and some network communications. Network teams with the Bureau of Information and Technology and the State Engineer are working to resolve the issue.
The state Supreme Court declared the existence of a judicial emergency in accordance with SDCL 16-3-11 through 15. The order is effective retroactive to Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025.
Aug. 20, 2025:
A power outage to the State of South Dakota’s Data Center on Tuesday (Aug. 19, 2025) has taken down all state-hosted services and some network communications.
Lisa Rahja, executive communications manager for the state Bureau of Information and Technology, told DRG Media Group that the outage is NOT connected to any type of cybersecurity or hacking incident. She said the interruption has been confirmed as a hardware failure directly caused by the power outage at the State Data Center.
Rahja said the State Engineer and BIT technical staff “investigated the root cause and are taking measures to remediate, including replacing hardware that was impacted.” She said recovery efforts are a top priority and all state agencies and partners are taking necessary steps to work through the challenges of the service interruption.
Supreme Court declares Judicial Emergency in South Dakota
The South Dakota Supreme Court has temporarily suspended all Unified Judicial System deadlines, time schedules, due dates and filing requirements because of a large-scale technical problem with the State Data Center in Pierre.
The South Dakota court system’s ePayments, eCourts and File and Serve platforms are affected. The UJS’ website at https://ujs.sd.gov is still accessible, but the online platforms are currently offline. In addition, some court office phones across the state are not working. Court filings and payments may still be submitted, in person, at county clerk of courts offices until the issue is resolved.
A power outage on Tuesday (Aug. 19, 2025) took down all state-hosted services and some network communications. Network teams with the Bureau of Information and Technology and the State Engineer are working to resolve the issue.
The state Supreme Court declared the existence of a judicial emergency in accordance with SDCL 16-3-11 through 15. The order is effective retroactive to Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025.
Stanley County Treasurer’s Office closed Wednesday
On a related note, because of the state computer system outage, the Stanley County Treasurer’s Office in Fort Pierre is closed for the rest of Wednesday (Aug. 20).
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