Answers and accountability are needed in Suffolk cyber hack

Imagine someone broke into your house, shut down your essential devices, tapped into all your personal records, and then held them hostage until you paid an exorbitant amount of money to stop this criminal act.

When done over the internet, it’s known as ransomware. And increasingly, American municipalities have fallen victim to this outrageous act of cybercrime, including Suffolk County’s official website and those of some Long Island school districts.

But in Suffolk, nine months after its computer systems were broken into, some vexing questions remain: How long will it take to get bottom-line answers to the root causes of this attack? And who is really to blame?

Certainly, there were plenty of warnings. In March 2022, the FBI alerted local governments like Suffolk that they were particularly vulnerable to cyberattacks which could cause huge disruptions to computer operations, endanger health and public safety, and cost millions to fix. Citing examples around the nation, the FBI recommended against paying ransom demands, and urged municipalities to follow several detailed steps to upgrade their software defenses to prevent future attacks. Because the public relies on open municipal websites for vital services, they are “attractive targets for cyber criminals,” said the agency.

DEVASTATING ATTACK

Nevertheless, Suffolk suffered a devastating cyberattack in September, with hackers demanding $2.5 million in ransom that the county refused to pay. The county’s main website and related services were shut down for nearly six months. Both the FBI and the Suffolk district attorney continue to investigate this attack by cyber thieves who are still unknown to the public.

In its wake, Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone blamed the computer breach primarily on the county clerk’s IT director, Peter Schlussler, and put him on paid leave in December. At a cost of $6 million, Bellone hired experts for restoration and recovery of the county’s computer system. In the meantime, the county legislature tapped Richard Donaghue, a former top U.S. Justice Department official, to help conduct its own review of circumstances surrounding the attack.

Now Suffolk’s cyber saga takes a new…