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MD property search tool back online, nearly two weeks after cyber attack
Maryland's SDAT search tool for property records is back online following a cyber threat that was discovered April 14. (Photo by Bryan P. Sears/Maryland Matters)
MD property search tool back online, nearly two weeks after cyber attack
Listen to this articleMaryland’s property ownership database is back online as of Monday after a nearly two-week hiatus because of a cybersecurity incident.
After state officials detected suspicious activity on their servers, they took down the state officials took the State Department of Assessments and Taxation website on April 14, in order to contain the threat and begin an investigation.
On Monday, users could once again conduct searches on the site, which lets users view the names of the owners of any property, various characteristics of the property and its sale history.
State officials “needed time to analyze the affected servers and remediate any issues that could compromise the system again or make it unsafe for public use,” read a statement from Alyssa Nolte, a spokesperson for the department. After a final round of testing this weekend, the search tool was deemed ready for public use, Nolte said.
Officials from the state’s Department of Information Technology said still believe that only public property records, which any user could already find using the website’s search tool, had been accessed during the breach. When the website was inaccessible, Marylanders were advised to use county-level real property assessment offices to obtain needed records.
Christine Condon covers state politics with a focus on environmental and energy issues for Maryland Matters. She is a Maryland native who previously reported on the environment for The Baltimore Sun.
Maryland Matters is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501(c)(3) public charity. Maryland Matters maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Steve Crane for questions: [email protected]. Follow Maryland Matters on Facebook and Twitter.
