Oregon DEQ announces plans to reopen after cyberattack shuttered agency

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – After a cyberattack led Oregon’s Department of Environmental Quality to close its networks and vehicle inspection stations for several days, the agency announced plans on Wednesday to reopen, but is warning customers of longer wait times.

DEQ announced the cyberattack on April 9, stating Enterprise Information Services is investigating the hack and had to shut down networks “until the attack is totally contained and potentially eradicated.” DEQ previously said no data breach has been detected.

With plans to reopen Friday, the agency says to ensure no infected files from the cyberattack remain, potentially impacted servers and all employee computers have to be rebuilt.

According to DEQ, this means deleting all data, then reloading backed-up data before the attack. During the rebuild, DEQ noted most employees do not have laptops and are working from their state-issued phones, leading to longer response times for customers.

“Security is our main priority as we bring DEQ back online,” said Chief Information Officer Angel Gillette. “We’re putting additional measures in place to protect our staff, DEQ data and data of those we interact with and regulate.” 

Some of the measures include updating security software and hardware, among other “cyber hygiene” policies.

“These servers housed DEQ documents, programs and systems the agency relies on to do our business,” Gillette said.

As DEQ plans to have all servers operating by Friday, the agency noted that any emails sent to DEQ employees between April 9-11 did not go through and asked customers to re-send emails sent in that timeframe.

A spokesperson for DEQ told KOIN 6 News that the cyberattack remains under investigation.