Major South Australian welfare agency Uniting Communities is investigating whether any data breaches have occurred as part of a "cyber incident" affecting its computer systems.
The service provider said it was looking into the cause of the technical problems, which were first noticed on Saturday, but said it was unclear if it had been hacked.
Uniting Communities delivers support to an estimated 74,000 South Australians every year across service areas including foster care, mental health counselling, disability support, elder care, homelessness support, and drug and alcohol counselling.
A spokesperson said crisis services including Lifeline Adelaide, Homeless Connect SA and the SA COVID Mental Health support line remained "fully operational".
The agency said it was too early to tell whether there had been any data breaches resulting in private information being obtained.
"Uniting Communities has been impacted by a cyber incident that has restricted access to some of our technology systems," the agency has said.
Earlier this year, UnitingCare Queensland was hit by a cyber attack affecting hospitals and aged care homes, but Uniting Communities said its current problems were unrelated to those in Queensland.
It said staff were unable to access certain systems. Systems involving rostering and setting appointments were among those affected, it said.
"Once [the] extent of the issue was discovered, [we] immediately engaged with forensic and cybersecurity experts to investigate the incident and work to restore our systems," the spokesperson said in a statement.
"We are committed to the ongoing delivery of our client services and have contingency plans and processes in place to ensure continuity of services."
The Australian Cyber Security Centre has been notified of the incident.
