I am a proud civic leader and retired pastor living in Smithtown with my husband - we raised our kids here, and love where we live.
Several months ago, Suffolk County discovered that its computer systems were hacked, with personal data stolen from residents. This hack disrupted government services for months, and the road to recovery is proving to be long and painful.
My focus is to ensure that our Office of Tax Receiver is completely resilient against the types of attacks that crippled Suffolk County government - this office cannot afford to be run on autopilot. We must modernize the office and bring it into the 21st century.
I'm calling for a complete forensic audit of the Office of Tax Receiver, and to ensure that we harden our systems against these sorts of cyberattacks that have now become commonplace. Smithtown residents deserve to know that their personal information will not be compromised because our leaders were asleep at the switch.