New York lawmakers vow to fight hacker attacks on hospitals and schools

New York State legislators have pledged to make helping local governments, schools and hospitals defend against ransomware cyberattacks a top priority in the 2023 legislative session.

It comes after a spate of such attacks hit institutions across the Empire State when hackers took out the computer systems of a major Brooklyn hospital network and Suffolk County government systems last year.

“This is the top item on my 2023 agenda,” said Stephen Otis, chairman of the Assembly’s Science and Technology Committee.

“I am particularly sensitive to local governments and school districts being targeted by ransomware attacks,” Otis said. “We have to go into prevention mode.”

A study just published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that the number of ransomware attacks on hospitals and other healthcare facilities more than doubled from 43 to 91 nationwide from 2016 to 2021, a figure likely underestimated.

Hospitals are one of the top targets for hackers because of all the personal information they hold about patients.

The Brooklyn One Health System’s computer database systems containing personal patient information and medical records were taken offline by hackers last November. The hospital chain, which includes the Jewish hospitals of Brookdale, Interfaith and Kingsbrook, has been forced to return to a manual, pen-and-paper system.

The hackers also hacked into the Suffolk County web server in a September 8, 2022 cyber attack demanding a $2.5 million ransom. The investigation found that hackers initially broke into the Suffolk database in December 2021 by exploiting a vulnerability in the software and staying there for nine months before publishing a ransomware memo demanding $2.5 million.

Even the box office at the Metropolitan Opera was hacked last month.

“Ransomware attacks and cyber hackers are the existential threat of our time,” said former state senator Diane Savino, who chaired the Internet and Technology Committee and is now a senior adviser to New York City Mayor Eric Adams.

“In some cases, you are dealing with terrorist organizations. Hackers aid and abet criminal enterprises. The federal government has done almost nothing.”

Gov. Kathy Hochul last year appointed Colin Ahern, the state’s first director of cybersecurity, to oversee anti-hacking efforts and said the state has stepped up defenses against hacking after Russia invaded Ukraine.

State senators in charge of national security and technology are considering holding hearings this year on ransomware threats to cybersecurity.

“We must do more to protect local and state governments and ransomware attacks,” said Sen. Jessica Scarsella-Spanton (State Island/Brooklyn), new chairman of the Veterans Affairs, Homeland Security and Military Affairs Committee. affairs. .

Mayor Adams’ aides said they had anti-hacking programs.

“The Adams administration is taking bold and proactive steps to protect the city and its nearly 9 million residents from cyberattacks that damage our critical infrastructure and essential services,” a spokesman for the city’s Office of Technology and Innovation said.

“From establishing the Joint Security Operations Center to coordinate city, state, and federal cybersecurity efforts to launching an academy to train City employees to investigate cyber incidents within their agencies, the City is prioritizing efforts to combat today’s complex — and increasingly costly — cyber threats.

The agency is also encouraging New Yorkers to download the Cyber ​​Command NYC Secure app to protect their phone from cyber threats.