After last September's cyberattack knocked out Suffolk’s computer network, services for residents were crippled, and the operations of county departments, including the county clerk, which manages millions of records necessary for daily life, were paralyzed.
The South Shore Press caught up with County Clerk Vincent Puleo, who inherited a mess after he took office in January, to check his progress in bringing operations back to normal.
South Shore Press: How are things going in the clerk’s office in the wake of the cyberattack?
Clerk Puleo: The attack happened before I got here, but ever since there's been a lot of work in making sure that we don’t have any more intrusions. The whole legislature, the county executive, they're all on board to make sure our system is safe. We’re establishing a baseline to make sure that everything that happens in the clerk's office and throughout the whole network is as strong as it can be. We’re getting recommendations of where we're weak and then we're going to keep strengthening the system.
South Shore Press: What do you expect from the special Cyber Committee investigating the attack?
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South Shore Press: What is happening with all of the county’s records?
Clerk Puleo: Part of our system, which houses a half-billion records, hadn't been updated for a long time. And since February, we’ve been doing the updates. We have most of the records done and we’re fine. A handful of them, about 30,000, needed to be tweaked, some information needed to be redacted. So, we want to make sure 110% that all the records the public deserves to see are available and are safe.
South Shore Press: What about the title industry; when will they have access to property records?
Clerk Puleo: Once we're done with the record update by around the end of the month, we are going to work on the title data, liens, mortgages. We want them to be able to work remotely and are putting the software together so they can have access to the online kiosk. We’ve been working simultaneously to make sure the firewall is solid, so it can protect the information coming in and going out of our servers. We’re looking to make an announcement next week, but we are testing it first, making sure it’s working right. The public deserves the ability to have quick access to their records.
South Shore Press: What’s going on with Chris Naples, who was suspended prior to the attack for allegedly running an illegal Bitcoin mining operation out of the clerk’s office?
Clerk Puleo: We have Chris Naples suspended for almost two years now, and that’s an investigation by the district attorney’s office. It's difficult to get any information about it, but I’m guessing that they want to wait until the legislature is done with their investigation to see whether or not there was any involvement. I'm not an IT expert; there have been a lot of rumors swirling around, but I don’t know if he had anything to do with the hack. That's up to the experts to decipher.
South Shore Press: And what about Peter Schlussler, the IT director who’s also been suspended with pay?
Clerk Puleo: The DA’s office has to do their due diligence, the legislature has to do their due diligence, and then we'll get past this. Yes, it hurts me. Their salaries are being paid out of budget and I really need someone in that position. He didn’t have to be subpoenaed, he volunteered and he gave his testimony to the committee. I can't comment on when, and if they're coming back, either one of them. But I do know that we're working as diligently as possible to have any issues resolved and make sure that our office is not going to have anything like that in the future.
South Shore Press: Is there anything else you’d like to say to our readers?
Clerk Puleo: I want to say that the whole staff is doing an outstanding job through all of this. I have 107 employees, 15 people in the IT office–they've been working a lot of overtime, a lot of Saturdays and Sundays, and everybody's been very patient. I gotta give them accolades for keeping things going, accolades to every staff member within the clerk's office.
Suffolk County Clerk Puleo, 68, was the former clerk of Smithtown, where he served five terms. He’s volunteered with the Nesconset Fire Department for more than 45 years and has served as the district's fire commissioner since 1993. Endorsed by both the Republican and Conservative parties, he won a primary challenge for the GOP line last year against the previous clerk, Judy Pascale.