Suffolk County government continues to reel from cyber attack

BROOKHAVEN, N.Y. - Suffolk County government is still months away from getting safely back online following a catastrophic cyberattack in early September. 

CBS2's Jennifer McLogan reports the county will not say if it has paid any ransom to cybercriminals who hold personal data of thousands of residents. 

Lester Coles of Brookhaven just got the bad news. 

"I know I'm a victim. I hope it doesn't really affect me, and they do something about it," Coles said. 

Do something about residents being exposed during Suffolk County's cyberattack on Sept. 8. 

"There's one and a half million people who live in Suffolk County and we have half a million people compromised," said Suffolk County Comptroller John Kennedy. 

Kennedy says the information from the county executive has not been transparent. We are now learning: 

• 26,000 social security numbers of Suffolk County employees and retirees may be in the hands of cybercriminals
• 470,000 drivers license numbers of people issued moving violations over the past decade 

"I'm going to do a written demand on Monday," Kennedy said. 

In response, the county shared the letter they're sending, informing possible victims. 

"We're worried because we don't know who's going to get our information," one person said. 

"There's a lot of things that could happen with the information being stolen," said another.

"My information is now out there somewhere, probably, and so what can I do about it," one person said. 

The county says it will offer free credit monitoring and identity theft restoration services to individuals potentially impacted by the breach. 

"It is a scary world unfortunately," said Paul Trapani of LISTnet Technology. "Your social security number, your driver's license, that stuff doesn't change."

Potentially, dark web bad actors can pluck those numbers and sell them in perpetuity - take out a credit card in your name, file for your tax refund, claim as consignor of a loan, create a passport. 

"Cyber insurance has become a new thing," Trapani said. 

"To get to the bottom of what happened and to make sure it doesn't happen again, and if that means holding people accountable for their actions, or holding ourselves accountable, we are going to do that," said Kevin McCaffery, presiding officer of the Suffolk legislature.   

As the potential harm drags on, the legislature is forming a special investigative committee.