Suffolk County cyberattack: Lawmakers launch new probe

Suffolk County legislators announced creation of a bipartisan special committee to investigate the source of a cyberattack that led to theft of county data and has shut down some county functions for more than a month.

Legis. Anthony Piccirillo (R-Holbrook), chairman of the government operations and information technology committee, will head the panel.

The committee's mission is to determine the source of the breach and the circumstances that led to it.

“The taxpayers deserve to know exactly how and when this cyber intrusion happened, how long they were in our networks and what personal information was compromised,” Piccirillo said in a statement.

“The committee will determine how taxpayer money earmarked for cybersecurity was spent in prior years, and what steps must be taken to ensure that our systems are not vulnerable to a future attack,” Piccirillo said. 

Suffolk County took its websites and web-based systems offline Sept. 8 after the discovery of what officials termed a cyber intrusion.

Newsday has reported that law enforcement and technology managers were alerted to suspicious computer activity in June, but did not take steps to contain it.

Marykate Guilfoyle, a spokeswoman for Suffolk Executive Steve Bellone, said Tuesday the county's forensic assessment of the attack was continuing.

"As we have done from the onset of this attack, we will continue to work hand in hand with our partners in the legislature to ultimately recover and strengthen our systems," Guilfoyle told Newsday in a statement.

In his 2023 budget proposal released Monday, Bellone included $8 million in new spending for cybersecurity measures such as hiring more information technology staff.

The special legislative committee likely will include three Republicans and two Democrats, said legislative Presiding Officer Kevin McCaffrey (R-Lindenhurst), who will serve on the panel.

The committee “will be given whatever tools necessary to make sure no stone remains unturned, including the ability to retain outside experts, subpoena powers and the ability to put witnesses under oath,” McCaffrey said in a news release Tuesday.

“This is not about engaging in partisan politics, but rather working together for the benefit of the people of Suffolk County,” he said.

McCaffrey did not specify when the committee would begin meeting or when it would issue a final report.

He said the panel's work would not interfere with law enforcement investigations into the attack or restoration of computer services.

McCaffrey said the panel would be “very careful about getting in the way of" service restoration.

“And we're going to hold off on the traditional finger pointing until the time is right,” he said.

Suffolk has brought some systems such as 911 and property title searches back online.

An unidentified group has taken responsibility for the cyberattack in a posting on the "dark web," an anonymized portion of the internet where criminal activity can occur.

The group has released copies of some Suffolk County documents, saying it was seeking a “small reward” for revealing vulnerabilities in Suffolk's computer systems.

County officials have not said if the group has demanded a specific ransom.

“We need to figure out what proactive measures we need to take in the future to ensure that these things don't happen,” legislative Minority Leader Jason Richberg (D-West Babylon) told Newsday.

The county legislature last formed a special committee with subpoena power to investigate the death of 8-year-old Thomas Valva, who died after sleeping in a freezing Center Moriches garage in January 2020.

McCaffrey said the legislature has paused the activities of that committee during the criminal trials of Thomas’ father Michael Valva and his ex-fiance Angela Pollina.

He noted that unlike in the Valva case, no trial is pending in the cyberattack.

“We are not waiting for a criminal case in this matter,” McCaffrey said. 

The special legislative panel's mission, the presiding officer said, “is simply to get our systems restored and the proper security in place to prevent or mitigate the chances of that happening in the future.”

By Vera Chinese

vera.chinese@newsday.com@VeraChinese

Vera Chinese joined Newsday in 2017 after working as an editor for the East End lifestyle publication northforker and a general assignment reporter for the New York Daily News.