Cyberattack causes Oregon DEQ to halt car inspections for rest of week

Published 11:15 am Thursday, April 10, 2025

Car-emissions inspections have been paused across Oregon after a cyberattack rocked the state Department of Environmental Quality this week.

The attack hobbled the department badly enough that officials decided they had to close inspection stations Thursday and Friday while a cybersecurity team investigates and works to resolve problems, the department said in a statement Wednesday night.

Even so, Your DEQ Online, the department’s environmental-data management system, is up and running, since it’s hosted on a different server than DEQ’s other computer systems.

The department said on Wednesday that it hasn’t determined who the attacker or attackers were, or what information may have been compromised.

“The full extent of the impact is not yet clear,” said Lauren Wirtis, a DEQ spokesperson. “Our focus has been on minimizing the impact.”