Report: Suffolk Clerk's Office neglected necessary protections, leading to countywide cyberattack
The report put together by a former federal prosecutor says the county wanted to bring all of its IT sectors together, but some departments refused.
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A final report on the September 2022 Suffolk cyberattack shows hackers had a clear shot into the county's IT system.
The report put together by a former federal prosecutor says the county wanted to bring all of its IT sectors together, but some departments refused.
It says the Suffolk County Clerk's Office was one of those departments. Findings show that the office then neglected to implement necessary protections, allowing the hackers to get in.
The hackers then were able to access a folder of passwords labeled in a way that made it obvious to them what was inside.
"It was kind of like a red flag, somebody saying, 'Hey, come check out this folder because it's got a lot of sensitive information,'" says former U.S. Attorney David Kelley.
Suffolk County has proposed legislation requiring one network for all of its IT systems. It is still pending approval.
