MINEOLA, N.Y. (WCBS 880) — Nassau County Executive Laura Curran signed an executive order Thursday requiring most Nassau County employees to take a cybersecurity training course.
The training will be required for all County employees who utilize a computer. The change comes after the comptroller’s office fell victim to a cyber-scam.
“So that they can know about malware, about fishing,” Curran said. “As the cyber criminals get more sophisticated, we have to make sure that we are keeping pace.”
Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder says the scam that targeted the comptroller’s office began with an email that appeared to be from a vendor of the county that was seeking payment, but claimed its bank account had changed.
An initial investigation did not raise any red flags, so a payment was made for more than $700,000.
Even though the money was then transferred into a number of different accounts, the county was able to get the money back.
Curran says now, they want to ensure something similar can never happen again.
“We want to make sure that we're doing everything we can to keep up so, one thing we've done is send our IT experts out into the community, talking to seniors and others about how they can protect themselves and their own computers in their own homes,” Curran said.
The training for current employees must be completed by the end of March.