Suffolk County has appointed a brand new chief expertise officer, officers confirmed, whereas the highest cybersecurity officer employed in the course of the Bellone administration was launched.
Suffolk County introduced Friday that John McCaffrey, Westchester County’s former chief data officer, will exchange former Information Technology Director Scott Masteron within the position of the county’s prime CIO.
McCaffrey, who begins subsequent week, most lately served as chief data officer for H2M Architects + Engineers, the place he labored for 4 years. Previously, he served as Chief Information Officer for LiRo Group and Westchester County. He additionally served as Director of Information Technology for Orange County, Director of Information Technology for the Village of Skokie, Illinois, and Deputy Treasurer and Technical Support Manager for the Town of North Hempstead.
The appointment comes on the identical time Suffolk launched Kenneth Branchik, who was employed because the county’s first chief data safety officer in May. Branchik stated the county’s pc community suffered a cyberattack on Sept. 8, 2022, which crippled county providers for a number of months and precipitated then-Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone to droop operations till December 2023. He was appointed after the state of emergency was declared for the second time in a row.
Over the weekend, Suffolk was hit with a countywide phishing electronic mail try during which attackers tried to take over customers’ passwords and login data to realize entry to the county’s huge community, officers stated. The assault led to failure.
Suffolk County spokesman Michael Martino declined to debate Branchik’s resignation, citing human sources insurance policies, however acknowledged the phishing try and confirmed that two I.T. He stated the deputy chief had handled the matter.
County Executive Ed Romaine thanked them in an announcement and stated Suffolk “continues to judge its IT programs and take a more in-depth have a look at the injury brought on by the cyber assault.”
Romaine stated McCaffrey’s “expertise and experience will play a crucial position in defending the county’s infrastructure.”
Branchik, who earns $184,214 a yr, was appointed in May after an investigation by former county marketing consultant Michael Balboni, Bellone stated in a 2023 interview with Newsday. Brunchik’s job was to develop restoration plans for potential future cyberattacks, Newsday reported. Mr. Branchik beforehand served as director of cybersecurity at Mount Sinai Health System. He didn’t return messages looking for remark Friday.
Branchik was appointed on the identical day that the Special Legislative Commission on Cyberattacks discovered the county didn’t have a cyber breach-specific emergency response plan.
In the years earlier than and within the months after the Sept. 8 assault, the county employed an IT safety operations “coordinator” who left the group and labored as an out of doors contractor. A 2019 county report really useful the county rent a chief data safety officer to centralize the county’s cybersecurity insurance policies and operations. Bellone stated it ought to have been adopted sooner than May 2023.
The 2022 cyberattack value the county $5.4 million in investigation and remediation efforts, and only recently county officers indicated greater than $27 million was spent changing programs, software program and safety. Ta. County Auditor John Kennedy introduced earlier this month that he had recognized $13.8 million in pointless or duplicate purchases, and Romaine stated he had employed an out of doors agency to evaluate the purchases.
Mark Harrington has been a Newsday reporter since 1999, protecting vitality, wineries, Indian affairs and fisheries.