Suffolk IT Admin Ordered To Return After State Of Emergency Lifts: Officials

SUFFOLK COUNTY, NY — The Suffolk Information Technology administrator, whose handling of the clerk's office's cybersecurity was blamed for the hack and delays in its repair, resulting in administrative charges, has been ordered back to work in the wake of the State of Emergency's cessation, county officials said Monday.

County Executive Steve Bellone announced a State of Emergency in December 2022 and placed Peter Schlussler on administrative leave, citing his handling of preventative measures before the cyberattack, and then thwarting its address in the aftermath in his reveal of an internal examination of the mechanics of how the hack happened.

Administrative charges of misconduct were filed against Schlussler, whose employment falls under the clerk's office, with the Legislature last week.

In a letter sent to Presiding Officer Legis. Kevin McCaffrey and Minority Leader Legis. Jason Richberg last week, he described "multiple and serious issues of misconduct and incompetence that merit termination," as he urges the lawmakers "take action because accountability is the only way that such conduct will effectively be prevented in the future."

It is not clear what action the body plans to take.

Spokesmen for McCaffrey and Richberg declined comment.

In a statement, County spokeswoman MaryKate Guilfoyle said, "Following the removal of Peter Schlussler last year, County IT, with the full support of Clerk [Vincent] Puleo, has been able to implement the significant upgrades he neglected for years, and in some case decades."

"With these issues largely remedied, the emergency is now ending, requiring Schlussler to return to work until action is taken regarding the serious charges of misconduct and incompetence," she said.

Patch has reached out to Schlussler and County Clerk Vincent Puleo for comment.

Schlussler is a member of the county's white-collar union, the Association of Municipal Employees.

In a statement to Patch, union President Daniel Levler said: "As we have maintained, our employees are entitled to due process like everyone else, and consistent with that right is the right to maintain his employment, while an investigation into the facts of this case plays out. We are pleased that Mr. Schussler has been reinstated and we will continue to ensure his rights are protected fully."

The Sept. 8, 2022, cyberattack disrupted county government's online operations, forcing some sections, like the police department, to revert to paper, something that had not been in place since the 90s.

While revealing the results of an examination, Bellone said hackers got into the county's web-based operations by first breaching the clerk's office where a vulnerability in the Log4j system was exploited.

He blamed the lack of a centralized Information Technology Department and much-needed security updates as contributing factors.

The State of Emergency ended on Friday.

In a letter last week to Presiding Officer Legis. Kevin McCaffrey and Minority Leader Legis. Jason Richberg, Bellone said the clerk's office has been integrated with the county with its critical systems "modernized and technologically secure."

Bellone told Patch there were serious issues of misconduct and incompetence.

"We have to make sure there's accountability," he said. "We have to make sure that we learned the lessons — we've done that. The emergency response was incredibly successful. At the end of the day, just 1.6 percent of our systems were impacted. We were able to restore all of our backups and we paid no ransom."