Last week's cyberattack severely impacted the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), leaving services such as email reception entirely inoperative for a span of days. The incident, which came to light on April 9, provoked the shutdown of various public services including vehicle inspection stations. The Department of Environmental Quality announced that the affected email system was non-operational from April 9 to April 11, compelling the public to resubmit comments electronically. "If you submitted a public comment during this time via email, you will need to resubmit that comment," the agency instructed, assuring that the public comment periods have been extended to April 25 to accommodate this inconvenience.
An update provided by the Department of Environmental Quality detailed that public hearings for various environmental permits are also being rescheduled and urged individuals to keep an eye on GovDelivery for new dates. The public should note, however, that comments made through Your DEQ Online do not need resubmission, as that system was unaffected by the attack. After days of rigorous work, Department of Environmental Quality and the Department of Administrative Services Enterprise Information Services were able to secure and bring vehicle inspection stations back online in Medford and the Portland area, starting the catch-up process for the backlog incurred.
The Department of Environmental Quality has been working in close collaboration with the Department of Administrative Services Enterprise Information Services and external experts from Microsoft's cybersecurity team. They have toiled through what must have been an arduous weekend to address the cyber issues, managing to restore some semblance of normal service by April 13. "DEQ and the Department of Administrative Services Enterprise Information Services worked through the weekend to address the cyber issues," stated an official Department of Environmental Quality release, indicating that vehicle inspection stations in Medford and the Portland area started operating on April 14 and 15, respectively. In another reassuring note, the Department of Environmental Quality Too locations, however, remain offline till further notice.
Preliminary findings report that there was no data breach during the cyberattack, a small silver lining in an otherwise dire situation. The Department of Environmental Quality marks this by confirming, "There continues to be no evidence of a data breach." For those who need to reach the Department of Environmental Quality by other means, the Your DEQ Online system is up and running, while email communications took a hit but are now slowly being re-established. The help desk, nevertheless, is still fighting to become operational again.
As for continued updates on the situation, concerned citizens are encouraged to visit Department of Environmental Quality's website directly to stay informed. The Department of Environmental Quality promises to provide more information as it unfolds and works ardently on solution-driven approaches to re-establish full service to the public.
