Suffolk officials: Possible 'cyber intrusion' of county government
Suffolk County government was hit by a "cyber intrustion" on Thursday, county officials said. Credit: Barry Sloan
Some Suffolk County government websites and email addresses were taken down Thursday night to assess a possible “cyber intrusion,” county officials said.
Marykate Guilfoyle, a spokeswoman for Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone, said in a statement the county was coordinating with the state Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services Cyber Incident Response Team and other law enforcement agencies on the matter.
Some county websites were not accessible and emails sent to county email addresses were being bounced back Thursday night.
“The systems will remain offline while we verify and assess the ongoing situation,” Guilfoyle said.
Critical public safety functions such as 911, however, will be maintained, Guilfoyle said.
Suffolk County Legis. Jason Richberg (D-West Babylon) said he trusted the county’s Information Technology Commissioner, Scott Mastellan, to navigate the issue, but that no further details were available.
“The county is taking the best precautions it can,” Richberg, the legislative minority leader, told Newsday.
“For all the data the county has, we want to make sure it is protected,” Richberg said.
County officials could not say if any data had been breached or if the county had experienced a ransomware attack.
On Long Island, municipalities and school districts have been victims of such attacks.
The attacks can expose personal information and cost money to repair technology, and possibly pay a ransom to retrieve stolen data.
In December, county legislators and law enforcement officials expressed concern that personal data of more than 3,800 county law enforcement officers and first responders might have been breached in a ransomware attack on a county vendor.
Suffolk County vendor TeleStaff was hit in a Dec. 11 cyberattack against HR management company Ultimate Kronos Group, officials 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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