On Monday evening at the 8/17/2026 City Council Meeting, the night before the Highlands Current broke the story that the City of Beacon's computer files of multiple departments and retired employees had been hacked and published as a result of allegedly not responding to a ransom note, the City of Beacon hired Dustin Benedict, an IT and Cybersecurity professional and field technician from the local computer firm Fisch Solutions, before he attends or completed the Police Academy, making his appointment contingent upon that successful completion.

The hire is a professional appointment, as he needs to begin and pass the Academy, which will begin in September, Beacon's Police Chief Tom Figlia stated at Monday evening's City Council Meeting.

"Dustin has passed all of our rigorous testing, the agility, our background standards, including a polygraph and psychological assessment," Chief Figlia explained to the City Council. "I have selected he will attend in-house training until the beginning of the Academy in September. I request that we approve him for hire tonight.”

Dustin lives in the Town of Wallkill and graduated from the Newburgh Free Academy. He earned his Bachelor's Degree in Information Technology with a Minor in Cyber Security from Mount St. Mary's College.

"Which are certainly skills that we could definitely use in the police department," Chief Figlia reflected.

The Chief then expanded on further connection between Fisch Solutions and the City of Beacon: "A fun little piece of Beacon history. When the founder of that company was 15, he created Beacon's first website.”

A second candidate, John Maraia, was also presented to be hired, and had passed all of his testing, but his background check of fingerprints was pending, as the system for that was down all day, the Chief said. "We kind of had a knife in the back on that one." He also would begin the Academy at a later date.

After Councilperson Amber Grant asked about the timing of the tests and checks for the appointment, City Administrator Ben Swanson said: "I would just add that the resolution for John does reflect that is contingent upon his successful completion of those two remaining items. So if either of those were not to be the case, then the resolution that you voted will ultimately be voting on in a moment would, even if it passes, would not appoint him successfully.

Councilperson Amber responded: "Okay. Yeah, I'm comfortable taking that approach based on just the timing constraints that are in place. And I know the Academy is only a couple of times a year. So as long as the resolution is as you said, clearly states that if those things don't come back as clear, that this person would not be appointed."

Personal and financial information "for hundreds of current, former and retired city employees, including police officers and firefighters" has been published on the dark web by the hacker group RansomHouse, the Highlands Current reported today. Documents that the newspaper say they have reviewed "appear to contain the contents of computers used by the City Administrator, Building Inspector, Finance Director, Tax Assessor and Human Resources Director, among other employees."

There have been several Building Inspectors in recent years. Beacon’s City Administrator Chris White retired unexpectedly in March 2026, stating that his final day would be in June. However, he was on leave after his announcement through April, and never returned.

According to a message the paper found, the hackers allege that they informed the City about the breach, but did not get a response: "Dear management of City of Beacon, we were waiting for you for quite some time, but it seems that your IT department decided to conceal the incident that took place in your company.”

The article stated that City Administrator Ben Swanson gave a statement that the City is aware of the incident, but that statement is neither at the City of Beacon’s Facebook page nor the City of Beacon’s Police Facebook page.

RansomHouse allegedly said that they hacked in on July 23rd, and allegedly announced that they did so on August 6th. New York State's Cybersecurity Incident and Ransom Payment Reporting law requires municipalities to report breaches and ransom demands within 72 hours to authorities, and to people whose data was compromised within 30 days. Authorities include the state Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services, the Division of Consumer Protection, the Attorney General, and New York State Police.

The state law also states that a ransom payment be reported within 24 hours of payment, and that a ransom payment explanation within 30 days of payment.