Stay up-to-date on the companies, people and issues that impact businesses in Syracuse, Central New York and beyond.

Utica firm wins FuzeHub $50K grant to help pay for N95 mask production
UTICA, N.Y. — Environmental Composites, a Utica firm that specializes in advanced textile products, will use a $50,000 grant to help ramp up N95 mask

Le Moyne to continue online-only instruction through the summer
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Le Moyne College has decided to continue with online-only instruction through its summer session, including its “May-mester” period. The college has also

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — The CNY Ronald McDonald House is now providing emergency sleeping accommodations for the front-line health-care workers of Upstate University Hospital. Ronald McDonald

SUNY Poly student teams among regional winners in New York Business Plan Competition
MARCY, N.Y. — Four student teams from SUNY Polytechnic Institute (SUNY Poly) placed first or second in three different categories as part of the 2020

Cuomo outlines phased plan to reopen New York, starting with construction, manufacturing
ALBANY, N.Y. — Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Sunday outlined a phased plan to reopen New York’s economy following the COVID-19 shutdown, starting with construction and

Oneida County reports three more deaths from COVID-19
UTICA, N.Y. — Oneida County over the weekend reported three additional deaths from COVID-19, bringing the county’s total to 14. The county reported the three

SBA to resume accepting small-business applications for PPP loans on Monday morning
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Monday, April 27 at 10:30 a.m. is a big moment for small businesses that were left out of the first round of

NORWICH — SUNY Morrisville’s Norwich Campus recently announced it’s doing its part locally to help alleviate the shortage of personal protection equipment (PPE) for emergency personnel and health-care workers during the coronavirus emergency. The campus is providing emergency agencies in Chenango County with use of an on-campus ultraviolet (UV) sterilization cabinet that allows for PPE
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NORWICH — SUNY Morrisville’s Norwich Campus recently announced it’s doing its part locally to help alleviate the shortage of personal protection equipment (PPE) for emergency personnel and health-care workers during the coronavirus emergency.
The campus is providing emergency agencies in Chenango County with use of an on-campus ultraviolet (UV) sterilization cabinet that allows for PPE to be used more than once.
The unit can sterilize up to 30 N95 masks, worn over the face to prevent the inhalation of airborne particles, and eight to 10 full-face shields. Its use allows departments to stretch their current supply, the university contends.
“While not directly affecting the national shortage, sanitizing the PPE allows us to make fewer requests to the county and state,” Jason Gray, a captain with the Norwich Fire Department and a student in the nursing program at the SUNY Morrisville Norwich Campus, said in an April 10 news release. “This decline in need on our part allows those resources to be deployed to areas that are harder hit and in dire need.”
The unit, located in the microbiology lab on the Norwich Campus, is generally used to sanitize PPE, including goggles and safety glasses, used in labs. It uses a special bulb that emits UVC rays that kill bacteria, viruses, and protists by destroying proteins, fats and DNA, according to Eric Diefenbacher, assistant professor of biology at the SUNY Morrisville Norwich Campus. The cabinet is loaded with PPE, the doors are shut, and the dial/timer/switch turned to the desired amount sterilization time. The cabinet turns off automatically. Generally, 30 minutes is enough time to kill germs.
As of April 10, the Norwich Fire Department, under Gray’s direction, had been the only Chenango County emergency service to utilize the Norwich campus UV cabinet. Gray said he would also be collecting and sanitizing the used PPE from the Norwich Police Department to keep its officers adequately protected during the coronavirus pandemic.

JOHNSON CITY — The Community Foundation for South Central New York announced it has released an additional $142,705 in grants to organizations providing essential services to the individuals and communities they serve during the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. The grants went to the following organizations. • Tioga Opportunities — $10,000 for the Tioga County Funders COVID-19 Response
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JOHNSON CITY — The Community Foundation for South Central New York announced it has released an additional $142,705 in grants to organizations providing essential services to the individuals and communities they serve during the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. The grants went to the following organizations.
• Tioga Opportunities — $10,000 for the Tioga County Funders COVID-19 Response Fund
• Otsego County Department of Health — $5,000 for a public-awareness campaign on social distancing
• Delaware Valley Humane Society — $5,000 for increased capacity at the shelter as owners surrender animals they can no longer afford
• Good Shepherd Communities Foundation — $5,000 for personal protective equipment at Chase Nursing Home
• Second Baptist Church of Edmeston — $10,000 for its Community Cupboard meal delivery and pantry program
• ONC-BOCES — $7,292 for materials to 3D print personal protective equipment for local health-care providers
• Helios Care – Oneonta — $10,000 for personal protective equipment for hospice staff
• Catholic Charities of Tompkins/Tioga — $20,000 for direct support to individuals (rent, food, car repair, etc.)
• Catskill Center for Independence — $8,000 for its meal and prescription-delivery program to community members with disabilities
• VINES — $5,000 for its partnership with local restaurants supplying meals to essential workers on-the-job “As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, community nonprofits and the people they serve are struggling day-by-day. Our community member review panel is meeting weekly to review applications to our emergency fund so we can support as many essential needs as possible,” Diane Brown, executive director at the Community Foundation for South Central New York, said in a statement.
The Community Foundation for South Central NY is a nonprofit organization founded in 1997 and headquartered in Johnson City. It encourages and facilitates personal and institutional philanthropy throughout the region by managing 126 funds within the foundation’s endowment that are established by donors to achieve specific charitable goals. From these funds, the foundation has awarded more than $16 million in grants to the area’s nonprofits. The Community Foundation for South Central NY serves donors and nonprofits in five New York counties: Broome, Chenango, Delaware, Otsego, and Tioga.

Secure Network Technologies pivots to attack response
SYRACUSE — Secure Network Technologies, Inc.’s newest product is a natural evolution of the services the company has provided since day one. Founded in 1997, Secure Network Technologies (SNT) has always focused on helping its clients find and repair security breaches in their computer systems. Fast forward to 2020 and “cybercrime is on the uptick,”
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SYRACUSE — Secure Network Technologies, Inc.’s newest product is a natural evolution of the services the company has provided since day one.
Founded in 1997, Secure Network Technologies (SNT) has always focused on helping its clients find and repair security breaches in their computer systems. Fast forward to 2020 and “cybercrime is on the uptick,” says Steve Stasiukonis, managing partner. Now add in threats like anonymous cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin and ransomware attacks, he says, and that’s where SNT’s newest product N.I.R.V. can help.
Short for Network Intrusion Response Vehicle, N.I.R.V. is a tool SNT can deploy to a company when there is an issue. “When they get hacked or broken into, the first thing they want is someone to show up on their doorstep to help them,” Stasiukonis says. Now, SNT can ship an N.I.R.V. kit to companies for them to patch into their network and it’s just like having an SNT technician on site.
“This is a game changer,” he says, even more so with the current situation in New York and around the country where many companies have shifted to a home workforce with the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We can be on their network in an hour,” says Kevin Conley, SNT’s president. With the N.I.R.V. incident-response system, SNT can hunt for malicious software, conduct a vulnerability analysis, and provide an immediate response to ransomware attacks.
SNT launched the product on April 1 and is rolling N.I.R.V. out slowly through its reseller channels as best it can with the current New York State on PAUSE executive order. That state directive has shut down much of business and daily life in the state since March 22 and is scheduled to continue until at least May 15.
There are three levels of subscription-based service, Conley says, raging from a platinum level where the client keeps an N.I.R.V. unit on site for immediate deployment down to a single-incident service.
“We’re really just trying to add layers of protection,” he says. “The criminals out there are as sophisticated, if not more sophisticated, than the companies out there.” With N.I.R.V., SNT wants to keep its clients ahead of the hackers.
Along with launching N.I.R.V., SNT also recently spun off one area of its services into its own website to increase visibility of that service, Stasiukonis says.
The site, www.prosintsecure.com, launched last October and is now the marketing hub for SNT’s digital-intelligence investigation services. For years, the company has worked with lawyers who needed assistance in putting together cases against people who maligned their employers online.
“People are putting so much information on the internet,” Stasiukonis says. Prosint simply combs through those public postings and compiles the information.
Prosint can also provide travel advisory services to help corporate executives and high-net-worth individuals mitigate travel-security concerns, including listing acceptable hotels, medical providers, and more for areas around the world.
While the COVID-19 crisis has made it challenging to market new products and services, it really is the time companies should be looking into security solutions, Conley says. “Now’s the time the bad guys will be looking into getting into networks,” he notes.
Conley says SNT generated year-over-year sales growth of 100 percent in the first quarter and he expects that trend to continue for the rest of this year. He declines to disclose the company’s revenue total.
As the new N.I.R.V. product and Prosint investigative services take off, Conley says he hopes to add three new employees to the company’s current staff of nine.
Headquartered at 247 W. Fayette St. in Syracuse, Secure Network Technologies (www.securenetworkinc.com) also recently moved its offices from the second floor to the third floor in the building. The company now operates from 4,000 square feet of space that is more modern and laid out more efficiently for the business, Conley says.
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