Ex-U.S. attorney hired in legislative probe of Suffolk cyberattack
Richard Donoghue, then U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, on Feb. 12, 2019. Credit: Getty Images/Drew Angerer
Richard Donoghue, a former U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District who also held a key role in the Department of Justice during the Trump administration, has been hired as counsel for a special committee to investigate the cyberattack on Suffolk County computer systems.
The special panel formed by the Suffolk County Legislature will probe the origins of the hack, which was discovered Sept. 8 and disrupted a range of county services, delaying payments to vendors and preventing access to county emails.
Donoghue will assist the committee in questioning witnesses, preparing potential subpoenas and organizing evidence, county officials said.
“He has a law pedigree that's unmatched in legal fields … and we're very, very happy that he's on board,” said Legis. Anthony Piccirillo (R-Holtsville), who will lead the bipartisan panel.
The other members are Legislature Presiding Officer Kevin McCaffrey (R-Lindenhurst); James Mazzarella (R-Moriches); Rob Trotta (R-Fort Salonga); Jason Richberg (D-West Babylon), the minority leader; and Sarah Anker (D-Mount Sinai).
The legislature’s investigation is separate from those conducted by law enforcement agencies and the analysis by Palo Alto Networks Inc., which was hired by the county attorney’s office. Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone has said he is supportive of the committee’s efforts.
“This is hopefully a shared endeavor in the sense of everyone trying to get to the bottom of it and make sure it can't happen again,” Donoghue said in an interview Monday.
County officials have said that the hack came from the BlackCat, or ALPHV, strain of ransomware and that the hackers had demanded a $2.5 million ransom, which the county did not pay.
Donoghue said the committee could convene as soon as February but will likely take several months to complete its investigation.
“This is a great step in the right direction,” Richberg said. “I think that it's important that we're going to be able to start the committee soon and start work … to get to the bottom of what happened with the cyberattack and to come up with realistic next steps for us to move forward.”
Donoghue, currently a partner in the corporate investigations and white collar defense practice at the international law firm Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, served as U.S. principal assistant deputy attorney general from 2020 until 2021. He and former Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen made news when it was discovered that in December 2020 they refused to sign on to a letter undermining the results of the presidential election in Georgia. Donoghue also has appeared before the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attacks on the capital.
Piccirillo said the committee chose Donoghue in part because he has shown himself to be “above the political fray.”
“This isn't a partisan issue,” Piccirillo said. “This is a bipartisan committee and we're looking to get answers about what happened here, first and foremost, and then make sure that it never happens again.”
Donoghue said his background as both chief litigator for the former CA Technologies and the years he spent working on cyber cases as a federal prosecutor make him qualified for the job. He pointed to convictions in a case involving 150,000 corporate news releases that were hacked before their intended releases and used for insider trading.
Donoghue will be paid $850 per hour for his work, while associates with his firm would be paid $690 per hour and attorneys working on discovery would be paid $300 per hour, according to the legislature’s counsel Bill Duffy. The money would be paid from the legislature’s annual $100,000 outside counsel budget and the contract was expected to be finalized Monday evening, Duffy said.
McCaffrey said the committee would issue a final report on its findings although he could not say how much of that information would eventually become public.
“I think we need to find where the gaps are in our system, avoid the finger-pointing and get this fixed,” he said.
Richard Donoghue, a former U.S. Attorney in the Eastern District who also held a key role in the Department of Justice during the Trump administration, has been hired as counsel for a special committee to investigate the cyberattack on Suffolk County computer systems.
The special panel formed by the Suffolk County Legislature will probe the origins of the hack, which was discovered Sept. 8 and disrupted a range of county services, delaying payments to vendors and preventing access to county emails.
Donoghue will assist the committee in questioning witnesses, preparing potential subpoenas and organizing evidence, county officials said.
“He has a law pedigree that's unmatched in legal fields … and we're very, very happy that he's on board,” said Legis. Anthony Piccirillo (R-Holtsville), who will lead the bipartisan panel.
The other members are Legislature Presiding Officer Kevin McCaffrey (R-Lindenhurst); James Mazzarella (R-Moriches); Rob Trotta (R-Fort Salonga); Jason Richberg (D-West Babylon), the minority leader; and Sarah Anker (D-Mount Sinai).
The legislature’s investigation is separate from those conducted by law enforcement agencies and the analysis by Palo Alto Networks Inc., which was hired by the county attorney’s office. Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone has said he is supportive of the committee’s efforts.
“This is hopefully a shared endeavor in the sense of everyone trying to get to the bottom of it and make sure it can't happen again,” Donoghue said in an interview Monday.
County officials have said that the hack came from the BlackCat, or ALPHV, strain of ransomware and that the hackers had demanded a $2.5 million ransom, which the county did not pay.
Donoghue said the committee could convene as soon as February but will likely take several months to complete its investigation.
“This is a great step in the right direction,” Richberg said. “I think that it's important that we're going to be able to start the committee soon and start work … to get to the bottom of what happened with the cyberattack and to come up with realistic next steps for us to move forward.”
Donoghue, currently a partner in the corporate investigations and white collar defense practice at the international law firm Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, served as U.S. principal assistant deputy attorney general from 2020 until 2021. He and former Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen made news when it was discovered that in December 2020 they refused to sign on to a letter undermining the results of the presidential election in Georgia. Donoghue also has appeared before the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attacks on the capital.
Piccirillo said the committee chose Donoghue in part because he has shown himself to be “above the political fray.”
“This isn't a partisan issue,” Piccirillo said. “This is a bipartisan committee and we're looking to get answers about what happened here, first and foremost, and then make sure that it never happens again.”
Donoghue said his background as both chief litigator for the former CA Technologies and the years he spent working on cyber cases as a federal prosecutor make him qualified for the job. He pointed to convictions in a case involving 150,000 corporate news releases that were hacked before their intended releases and used for insider trading.
Donoghue will be paid $850 per hour for his work, while associates with his firm would be paid $690 per hour and attorneys working on discovery would be paid $300 per hour, according to the legislature’s counsel Bill Duffy. The money would be paid from the legislature’s annual $100,000 outside counsel budget and the contract was expected to be finalized Monday evening, Duffy said.
McCaffrey said the committee would issue a final report on its findings although he could not say how much of that information would eventually become public.
“I think we need to find where the gaps are in our system, avoid the finger-pointing and get this fixed,” he said.
Vera Chinese covers Suffolk County government and politics. She 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.
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