Legislature’s Administrative Services Committee meets (September 19, 2022)

A cybersecurity protection service program provided by New York State could save Chautauqua County over $88,000.

Chief Information Officer Jon DeAngelo, in a presentation to the Legislature’s Administrative Services Committee, said the state is offering endpoint protection for computers, “It’s virus protection, is basically what it is. They haven’t done this before. There’s additional services that they’re offering as well. It’s through a third party provider called CrowdStrike. So the state is offering it to all the counties at no cost for three years. We currently use a different product, so this would be a change for us. But this product would cover about, approximately 1,500 devices utilized by all county employees.”

DeAngelo said the IT Department is still evaluating whether it will go with the state’s program, but wanted to have the approval to move forward. He said the annual savings would be $29,460 if the County made the changeover. The Administrative Services approved the resolution unanimously.

The committee also voted to accept a grant from the State Board of Elections in the amount of $31,654 to offset expenses for return pre-paid postage.

County Board of Elections representative Donna Sanderson said the pre-paid postage is part of a new election law approved in April, “The grant will be in effect from July 1st, which then would cover our additional election that we had this year, which was the special and the primary in August. Going forward, the Board of Elections would have to provide a postage paid envelope to all voters who are requesting an application and an absentee ballot.”

Sanderson said the grant amount will cover all election costs for 2022 and expires at the end of this year. She said it also can be used to bring in two temporary employees to assist with mailing for the general election.

Administrative Services also approved a resolution selling a parcel of land in the town of Ellicott that had gone into foreclosure to Target Corporation. County Attorney Stephen Abdella said the small parcel of land is located at the entrance of the parking lot to the future store. He said the sale will put the property back on the tax rolls while eliminating any confusion over who is responsible for its maintenance. The committee approved the measure on the contingency that the financial information on the sale will be available for review at the Audit and Control Committee meeting on Thursday.

All approved resolutions will appear before the full County Legislature for consideration next week Wednesday, September 28.

Letitia James

State Attorney General Letitia James is providing warnings and tips to consumers and businesses to protect themselves against potential cybersecurity threats that may develop due to the crisis in Ukraine.

While there is currently no active cybersecurity alert, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has encouraged consumers and businesses of all sizes to ensure they are taking appropriate measures to protect their systems. The State Office of Attorney General has previously investigated issues relating to cybersecurity and provided guidance to both consumers and businesses about how they can best protect themselves from cybersecurity threats.

The OAG recommends businesses use bot detection systems, multi-factor authentication, and strong password requirements for most accounts. They also recommend developing processes to manage software updates, limit employee access to systems according to their job functions, maintain the security of remote access to company systems, and identify and manage security vulnerabilities. Businesses also should implement antivirus software and technical safeguards to filter emails likely to be phishing attempts, and train employees on phishing and other potential scams.

Additionally, Attorney General James recommends consumers safeguard their online accounts against cybersecurity threats by protecting passwords, enabling two-factor authentication, watch out for online scams, regularly run antivirus software, keep software updated, and take notices of suspicious activity seriously.