Unclaimed money search site may have been compromised

More than 166,000 people who visited a state website to search for any unclaimed money or property are receiving notices that the personal information they shared at the time may have been compromised.

The letters are from the Oregon Department of State Lands, which learned during a routine cybersecurity scan last month of a possible vulnerability on the state’s unclaimed property website.

It said personal information in accounts created by the public to search for or claim property may have been accessible to outside parties.

“Though extensive cybersecurity analysis did not determine any personal information was taken, free identity theft protection services are being offered to all individuals whose information was vulnerable,” the letter states.

DSL representative Ali Hansen told NewsChannel 21 on Wednesday that DSL is working with ID experts to make the free ID theft protection services available. Emails went out Tuesday and mailed letters are going out shortly.

“We are erring on the side of better safe than sorry with these notices, so many folks – more than 166,000 – are receiving them,” Hansen said.

The search website at https://www.oregon.gov/dsl/Money/Pages/Lost.aspx has a message to confirm to mail recipients that the notice “is not a hoax, scam, spam or fishing.”