On Dec. 19, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a bill sponsored by South Queens Assemblymember Jenifer Rajkumar, which passed the state Assembly by a unanimous vote and aims to protect New Yorkers’ private information by ensuring that hardware and software used by government agencies remains uncompromised. A223 prohibits the State and all municipalities from purchasing technology from certain international companies whose products threaten national security and received the support from several cybersecurity experts who gave testimony on the importance of its subject.
Michael Lucci, chairman and CEO of State Armor, is one such expert in support of the bill. State Armor is a nonprofit advocacy group dedicated to “help states enact solutions to global security threats” via means of research and education. According to Lucci, federal authorities have flagged certain types of international technologies, most of which were produced or manufactured by “adversary nations,” that have potential backdoors to access data and present a risk to cyberinfrastructure.
