Update on Newburgh security incident – Hudson Valley Press

NEWBURGH – City of Newburgh statement on completion of network security incident response:

On June 10, the City of Newburgh discovered and stopped a cybersecurity attack that allowed an unauthorized third party to access some of our network systems. Upon discovery, the City of Newburgh immediately took steps to secure its network and launched an investigation with the assistance of independent cybersecurity experts to determine the nature and extent of the attack.

The City has taken several measures to protect itself and our citizens should such an attack ever occur. Thanks to these measures taken by the City, we can confirm that the independent investigation into this cybersecurity attack found no evidence that any sensitive personal information of citizens or employees was affected by this incident. In addition, there was no disruption to public safety services, and public services and administrative functions that were minimally affected were restored ahead of schedule.
Federal, state and local law enforcement authorities have been notified of this incident and a criminal investigation is ongoing.

City Manager Todd Venning: “In collaboration with the City Council, my administration has implemented several measures to prepare for and respond to cybersecurity attacks and other network security incidents. These preparations enabled the City to quickly respond to and investigate this attack. I am pleased to confirm that we have found no evidence that any of our residents’ or employees’ sensitive personal information was affected by this incident.”

The city has prepared a short FAQ document to answer any questions citizens may have about this incident.

frequently asked Questions
1. What happened? When did the city become aware of this incident?
On the morning of June 10, 2024, the City of Newburgh discovered and stopped a cybersecurity attack that allowed an unauthorized third party to access some of our systems. Upon discovery, the City of Newburgh immediately took steps to secure its network and, with the assistance of independent cybersecurity experts, launched an investigation to determine what had happened and the extent of the unauthorized activity.

2. Has my data been compromised?
The investigation found no evidence that confidential personal information of employees or citizens was affected by this incident.

3. Have law enforcement authorities been notified?
Yes, local, state and federal law enforcement have been notified of this incident.

4. Are there still attackers in the city’s system?
No. Immediately after discovering the incident, we took steps to secure our systems. These actions included engaging third-party cybersecurity experts to restore our network to a secure environment. There were no signs of ongoing or continuing malicious activity. The City’s network is secure.

5. What is the city doing to ensure this never happens again?
We are reviewing all of our current safety protocols and adding additional security measures where necessary to prevent this from happening again.