Oregon Public Broadcasting reports:
A ransomware group has released over a million files that the group says it stole from the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. The files appear to include sensitive information about DEQ employees.
It’s not clear if private vehicle registration data or other information related to Oregonians who don’t work at DEQ was also stolen.
DEQ announced earlier this month that it had to freeze most of its services after a potential cyberattack. The state agency regulates air quality, toxins, waste and pollution. It also runs vehicle smog inspections that are required for driver registrations in the Portland and Medford areas.
An agency spokesperson didn’t confirm on Thursday how much data was stolen, noting only that an investigation was ongoing.
But by the time of that OPB interview, a well-known and advanced ransomware group called Rhysida had already released 1.3 million files amounting to 2.4 terabytes on the dark web, a part of the internet that’s only accessible through special software.
“We tried to contact them, but they chose to ignore us,” Rhysida’s website read Thursday. “And now their files have been released.”
Read more at Oregon Public Broadcasting.
