OCTOBER 12, 2020 VOL. 56, No. 41
TR US TE D J O U R NALI S M AT YO U R FI N G E RTI P S westfaironline.com
‘WE ARE PREPARED’ Secretary of State Merrill says as Covid, cyberattacks loom over election
BY KEVIN ZIMMERMAN kzimmerman@westfairinc.com
C
ovid-19, threats of voter intimidation and charges of fraud by the incumbent president have combined to sow more than their share of uncertainty over the November election. But, Connecticut Secretary of the State Denise Merrill says, there is no cause for undue alarm
about what will happen on Nov. 3; instead, she and the system she oversees have got this. “We’ve done a lot” to prepare for the election, Merrill told the Business Journal. “Since 2016 we’ve had a much closer relationship with the Department of Homeland Security and we’ve increased our networking with other states and with federal law enforcement agencies.” Many of those efforts are cen-
HUDSON GATEWAY ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS BECOMING A POWERHOUSE WITH LATEST MERGER
tered around combating what Merrill calls “bad actors” — foreign and domestic — that are tirelessly mounting cyberattacks against the state’s voting system. “We didn’t even know it was going on in 2016 at first,” she said. “That’s no longer true.” Connecticut was one of 21 states that had its online voter registration databases targeted by Russian hackers during the election four years ago; while those
BY PETER KATZ pkatz@westfairinc.com THE HUDSON GATEWAY ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS (HGAR) OF WHITE PLAINS HAS MERGED WITH THE BRONXMANHATTAN NORTH ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS, GAINING 1,500 MEMBERS. HGAR now represents more than 13,000 real estate professionals doing business in the lower Hudson Valley with some
efforts failed, Merrill said, it was obvious that cyberattacks would continue into the future. The state received $5.1 million from the federal government to make the necessary upgrades to its software and to help train local officials on how to recognize and report potential security breaches. The local level, the secretary said, is “where the vulnerability is.” One municipality was still using Microsoft 7 for voting tabulation
not so long ago, she said, “so we put in an upgrade and provided training to bring them up to date.” She noted that Hartford was the target of a ransomware attack in September, forcing the postponement of the first day of school. The attack was ultimately unsuccessful due largely to newly installed cybersecurity software, according to Mayor Luke Bronin. Merrill has also enlisted the
members in the Bronx and Manhattan. As a result of the merger, the a Bronx chapter of HGAR has been created. It will initially operate out of the former BronxManhattan North offices on Williamsbridge Road. The merger was approved by the boards of directors of both organizations as well as the National Association of Realtors. The CEO of Bronx-Manhattan
North Association of Realtors (BMNAR), Eliezer Rodriguez, has joined HGAR and has been named director, advocacy, commercial and legislative issues for the Bronx and Manhattan. He’ll also work to grow the merged organization’s commercial and investment division. Vincent Buccieri, BMNAR’s president, will serve as the Bronx regional director on HGAR’s
» CYBERATTACKS
» POWERHOUSE
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