A special bipartisan
committee will hold hearings “probing the cause and response” of the ransomware
attack that stole the personal information of as many as 470,000 Suffolk County
residents.

Suffolk County Clerk Judith Pascale told News 12 that she warned Suffolk County officials in January
that a cyberattack could happen. She brought her concerns to the Ways and Means
Committee and asked them to install more computer security and more substantial
firewall protection. She says the firewall protection in place during the
attack wasn’t enough for a government entity.

“It was only a
matter of time. And that’s why we should have taken the precautions,” said
Pascale. “…People looked at me like I was crazy…I said ‘when this
happens, it’s going to be devastating.’”

A county IT expert who
asked not to be named told News 12 it took about five hours to shut down
more than 600 servers during the Sept. 8 hack.

A county spokesperson
told News 12 that the county took aggressive measures on Sept. 8 to contain the
cyberattack and that the county hired a leading forensic team to determine what
happened.       

Presiding Officer Kevin
McCaffrey is expected to make the announcement of the committee formation and
its members during a news conference Monday morning. It will be chaired by
Legislator Anthony Piccirillo and will have subpoena powers for testimony.

According to a release:

“The committee will
review how tax dollars were used to protect the county’s information, the
response to the attack, the steps taken to protect residents whose personal
information was compromised and what is being done to prevent future attacks.”

The attack occurred on
Sept. 8. The county has admitted that “the personal information of as many as
470,000 residents and 26,000 past and current employees has been stolen by the
hackers.”