New York’s state ethics watchdog was attacked by hackers, officials disclosed Friday.
The web servers of the Joint Commission on Public Ethics were hit by a “deliberate malicious cyberattack” this week, according to a press release.
State tech workers had flagged suspicious web activity earlier in the week and disabled JCOPE’s system as a precaution. A forensic analysis confirmed the attack, and the agency, which regulates lobbying at the State Capitol, remained offline for safety reasons, officials said.
It was unclear who was behind the cyberattack, or if there was an information breach. State investigators were probing the incident.
Lobbyists were granted extensions for filing financial disclosure statements for the $300 million a year industry.
“Our first and highest priority is the safety and integrity of the data entrusted to the Commission by the regulated community,” JCOPE Executive Director Sanford Berland said.
“We are working with our partners in information technology and law enforcement to identify the scope of the attack, to ensure that the incident response is comprehensive, and to bring each system back online as soon as safely possible.”