{"id":197651,"date":"2026-03-20T07:02:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T11:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/20\/cybersecurity-grant-will-fund-risk-assessment-for-lehigh-northampton-county-government-systems\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T08:45:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T12:45:17","slug":"cybersecurity-grant-will-fund-risk-assessment-for-lehigh-northampton-county-government-systems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/20\/cybersecurity-grant-will-fund-risk-assessment-for-lehigh-northampton-county-government-systems\/","title":{"rendered":"Cybersecurity grant will fund risk assessment for Lehigh, Northampton county government systems"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cybersecurity grant will fund risk assessment for Lehigh, Northampton county government systems<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.mcall.com\/2026\/03\/20\/cybersecurity-grant-will-fund-risk-assessment-for-lehigh-and-northampton-county-government-systems\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Publish Date: 2026-03-20 07:02:00<\/a><\/p>\n

Source Domain: www.mcall.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Author: <\/a><\/p>\n

Using an unordered list, summarize the following article with between 4 and 8 key points. Protecting critical water and energy infrastructure, securing county government networks against ransomware attacks and preventing the disruption of public safety communication networks \u2014 those are the goals of a cybersecurity risk assessment set to begin in Lehigh and Northampton counties.
\nConcurrent Technologies Corp., a research nonprofit with cybersecurity expertise, received a $250,000 state grant for the first phase of its work, which focuses on identifying vulnerabilities and suggesting solutions.
\nState Sen. Nick Miller, who serves as the minority chair of the Senate Communications and Technology Committee, helped secure the grant. He spoke Thursday to seniors at Lehigh Valley Active Life in Allentown.
\n\u201cThis has been a priority for my office, making sure that your information and the systems that the county operate are protected,\u201d said Miller, D-Lehigh.<\/p>\n

Lehigh Carbon Community College is still recovering from a recent data breach that shut the school down for more than a week, reminding Lehigh Valley residents that cyberattacks on civic infrastructure have increased. Miller said he has not yet received a briefing on the LCCC data breach.
\nOther recent cyberattacks include a 2025 ransomware attack that targeted the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General. That led to case delays as attorneys found themselves unable to contact witnesses, produce discovery or respond to filings.
\nOn the county level, Bucks County suffered a nine-day 911 outage following a ransomware attack in 2024. Emergency dispatchers had to switch to manual backup systems.
\nIn 2023, hackers linked to Iran breached a control system that regulated water pressure at the Municipal Water Authority of Aliquippa in Beaver County. Miller told The Morning Call that he was already an elected official at the time and the incident made an impression, motivating him to work to safeguard utilities.
\nAn office like the Pennsylvania attorney general\u2019s has a significant IT budget, while counties often have far fewer resources, CTC Vice President of Digital Mission Solutions Kevin Pudliner said.
\nPudliner, who will act as project manager for the Lehigh and Northampton County work, said one advantage of working with a nonprofit versus a private cybersecurity firm is that CTC does not produce or market any of its own products, but rather seeks to steer clients to tools that will meet their needs.
\n\u201cWe are looking for the best-case scenario,\u201d Pudliner said. \u201cWe\u2019re not biased toward any particular products.\u201d
\nCTC is headquartered in Johnstown, Cambria County, but most of its work consists of federal contracts with intelligence and defense agencies, so it maintains offices in cities including Washington and Baltimore.
\nPudliner said it\u2019s rare for him to be able to speak publicly about his projects.
\nCommunication with the public will be an important part of the Lehigh and Northampton work, as part of the goal is to secure county databases that handle sensitive taxpayer information and safeguard election-related infrastructure.
\nOn elections, one priority would be to prevent any interference with data that is transmitted from polling stations to the county\u2019s election reporting database, Pudliner said.
\n\u201cWe should be able to lock down all those systems,\u201d he said.
\nWhen asked Thursday about the possibility that voting systems could be hacked, Miller said, \u201cOur elections are safe and secure.\u201d
\nMiller assured the audience that his caucus is working with the governor to monitor the state\u2019s election systems in advance of the November midterms and to keep those systems protected from undue interference, whether that interference were to come from outside actors or from the federal government.
\nState Sen. Nick Miller, D-Lehigh, discuses cybersecurity threats Thursday, March 19, 2026, at Lehigh Valley Active Life in Allentown. He focused on cybersecurity threats affecting the Lehigh Valley, particularly seniors, and discussed a $250,000 grant to help Lehigh and Northampton counties enhance their cybersecurity infrastructure through a partnership with Concurrent Technologies Corp. (Amy Shortell\/The Morning Call)
\nAssessing where risks lie
\nAt Lehigh Valley Active Life, infrastructure and election security were just two of the topics raised, as all the attendees raised their hand when asked if they had personally been a victim of an attempted scam.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s a mess,\u201d said\u00a0Pat Chiavetta, a 78-year-old resident of Catasauqua, who added that technology is advancing so quickly it\u2019s simply too difficult for members of the public to know what is real and what isn\u2019t as scams spread via phone calls, texts and emails.
\nDealing with the consequences of cyberattacks isn\u2019t new for Chiavetta. She estimated that it\u2019s been nearly 20 years since she was working on payroll for the engineering company Foster Wheeler when an attack caused a major disruption and she had to help restore the databases that stored employee data.
\nMiller said he knows the grant-funded risk assessment will need to include training for county employees to ensure they do not take actions that would enable hackers to cause damage.
\nThe initial grant does not provide money for hardware or software upgrades, but Miller is hoping it\u2019s merely the first step in making Lehigh and Northampton counties a model for what Pennsylvania counties can do to up their cybersecurity game. He sees the work as a pilot that could inspire state investment across other counties and eventually at the municipal level as well.
\nPudliner said \u201cquick wins\u201d could be possible for Lehigh and Northampton counties as the project works to ensure basic precautions are in place, such as adequate password protections on the systems that govern water and energy infrastructure.
\nLast session\u2019s monthslong state budget impasse delayed the start of the work. Now that state funds, which have been allocated through the Department of Community & Economic Development, are available, Miller and Pudliner said they\u2019re optimistic that the risk assessment will move quickly and that further grants could be available from the current budget cycle.<\/p>\n

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