With each passing minute, emails, copies of unreleased Sony films, executive salary information, and personal information about Sony employees and their families were being stolen and then deleted from Sony’s servers.

It was a terrifying moment, Seligman recalled during a panel at the International Conference on Cyber Security. Moderated by Preet Bharara, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, the panel included Seligman, David Hickton, U.S. attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania, and Denise Zheng, senior fellow and deputy director at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

It was not the first time Sony had been attacked, however—in 2011, the PlayStation network was hacked, compromising tens of millions of users’ data. This time around, a Sony executive made the quick decision to shut down the corporation’s entire network.

“We knew something big was happening, and we were aware we were losing a lot of data, so we immediately went offline,” Seligman said. “As a result, half our servers survived. Otherwise everything would have been gone, because this was an attack in which they were stealing data and then executing a command to destroy.”

Going dark spared the company further intrusion, but left everyone with the resounding question of, “Now what?” No one had access to email or voicemail. Calendars and contacts were lost. People were “sitting at their desks trying to do their job with a pen and paper,” as one staff member was widely quoted immediately after the hack.

Logistical issues were just one of the lessons Seligman said the corporation learned from the 2014 hack. She urged that all companies have business continuity plans in the event that networks become suddenly unavailable. Back up information on other servers, she said, or print files and keep hard copies.

In addition, companies ought to establish clear lines of authority with regard to company networks. If a hack occurs, Seligman said, you do not want to spend precious minutes trying to figure out who is the right person to make the call about going offline.

Similarly, there must be frequent conversations about cybersecurity at the highest levels of the company.

“If you have trade secrets and corporate information, how do you secure it? What kind of threat do you assume—a hacktivist, or some kid sitting in a basement?” Seligman said. “You need to do a cost/benefit analysis about what data you need to guard, how much you’re going to spend to secure it, and how much that will interfere with operations.”

Most important, Seligman said, is to establish ongoing relationships with law enforcement. In Sony’s case, the FBI not only responded to the immediate threat, but also helped guide the corporation through the recovery process.

“It’s very lonely when you’ve you been attacked and you’re offline,” she said. “There is an assumption that with just a little bit of money and savvy you could’ve prevented an attack. So you’re in a position where you’re a victim, but somehow you’re also the wrongdoer.

“In our case, the FBI stepped into that void and acknowledged that we were the victim here.”

Follow Fordham News for coverage of ICCS 2016.

The event, “Fighting Corruption in America and Abroad,” came on the heels of some criticism that Bharara has received for making public statements on corruption while prosecuting former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.

But the U.S. attorney said that it’s entirely appropriate for his office to participate in forums where students, scholars, and practitioners meet and share common insight to deter crimes.

“Our cases have more resonance than people in this room can realize,” he said, citing letters of support from New Yorkers who were “turned off by government because the status quo won’t change.”

“They tuned out, but when you clean out [the problem]they tune back in—and that’s no small thing when you care about democracy,” he said.

Bharara said that the topic relates to patterns seen in other pervasive crimes that his office handles, such as gang violence.

“If you are a narcotics prosecutor and you take a gang off the street, that’s a job well done. But what impact does that have if the next day another gang moves in? Then we haven’t quite done the job. That’s true for public corruption as well.”

Everyone bears responsibility for routing out criminal behavior, he said, not just prosecutors. He warned of a permissive atmosphere propagated by people standing by and not blowing the whistle.

“Good people who do nothing bear responsibility for the bad things that go wrong in their institution,” he said.“There is nothing better than self-policing. The body politic has to take care of itself first.”

Without directly offering a solution to Albany’s ills, Bharara did offer a manner in which to view the problem. He paraphrased his former professor, the moral political philosopher John Rawls, who posited that a “veil of ignorance” sets up an impartial viewpoint from which to understand a problem—in this case government reform. From that vantage point, the facts of a person’s place, class, abilities, and weaknesses drop away, creating a neutral viewpoint by which people could begin to reassess the “rule of the road” in government and collectively choose new procedures and principles.

From behind such a veil, basic questions could be examined:

“What would you choose for your social contract? … Would you choose gerrymandered districts? … Would you want a level of self-policing on the part of elected officials? … Would you want an outside watchdog? … How would you ensure against conflicts of interest? … Would you want to know whether your elected officials were being paid by industries affected by their decisions? … Would you want shadowy committee procedures?”

Bharara said that while he doesn’t hold any views on these particular questions, they are the types of questions worth asking. Sometimes it’s better first to ask what is right and then try to see if it is possible.

Before New Yorkers mourn the futility of healing a “deeply diseased political body,” they should remember the Greek scientist Archimedes, Bharara said. The scientist claimed that if the circumstances were right he could lift the earth off its very foundation—“all you need is a long-enough lever and a place to stand.”

“To put it in blunter New York terms: If we can clean up Times Square, can we really not clean up Albany?” said Bharara. “Just give the people a long-enough lever and a place to stand.”

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara at Fordham Law Review Symposium on Fighting Corruption from Fordham Law School on Vimeo.

U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara gave the graduation address and received an honorary doctorate of laws degree at Fordham Law’s 106th diploma ceremony, held on May 19 at Radio City Music Hall.

Fordham University President Joseph M. McShane, S.J., and Fordham Law Dean Michael M. Martin conferred degrees on 660 graduates—481 of whom received juris doctor degrees and 179 of whom received Master of Law degrees.

Bharara, appointed U.S. Attorney by President Obama and unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate, has served in the position since 2009. He was featured in a Time magazine cover story, “This Man is Busting Wall Street,” and was also named one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World by the publication in 2012.

“I hope you always keep liberty and justice in your hearts, and think from this day forward what you can do with the diploma you have just earned,” Bharara said to the graduates. “Because what you can do is truly limitless. Because the potential power of a law degree is, I believe, unmatched in American society.”

Click Here for Full Commencement Information

Richard Engel

John Tognino

Paulette LoMonaco

Dion DiMucci

Preet Bharara

Sally J. Bellet

Patricia E. Harris

Kaushik Basu

The University Commencement ceremony is broadcast live over radio station WFUV (90.7 FM) on the dial or at www.wfuv.org. Video of the ceremony is also streamed live on Cable Channel 10 on the Rose Hill and Lincoln Center campuses and online atwww.fordham.edu/media.

As part of its 2013 commencement ceremony on May 18, Fordham University will award honorary degrees to eight people of distinction in fields ranging from public service and government to journalism and the arts.

This year’s commencement speaker, NBC News Chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel, will receive an honorary doctorate of humane letters at the University’s 168th commencement, to be held at the Rose Hill campus.

That degree will also be awarded to Paulette LoMonaco, R.G.S., executive director of Good Shepherd Services; John Tognino, PCS ’75, chairman and chief executive officer of Pepper Financial Group and former Fordham trustee; Dion DiMucci, the famous and influential Grammy-nominated musician; New York City First Deputy Mayor Patricia E. Harris; and Kaushik Basu, chief economist and senior vice president for development economics at the World Bank.

Two honorees will each receive an honorary doctorate of laws: Sally J. Bellet, Esq., LAW ’76, president of the Stein/Bellet Foundation, and Preet Bharara, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, who will give the keynote address at the 106th diploma ceremony for the Fordham School of Law, to be held at Radio City Music Hall on Sunday, May 19.

Basu will give the keynote address at the diploma ceremony for the Graduate School of Business Administration, also to be held Sunday, May 19, at Avery Fisher Hall at the Lincoln Center campus. Peter Vaughan, Ph.D., who is retiring as dean the Graduate School of Social Service, will speak at the school’s diploma ceremony on Monday, May 20, also at Avery Fisher Hall.

Richard Engel, widely known as one of today’s top foreign correspondents, has won multiple awards for his coverage of wars, revolutions and political changes in the Middle East over the past decade. He is one of the few Western journalists to cover the second Iraq war from beginning to end, and he has also covered the war in Afghanistan, the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah conflict, the uprisings in Egypt and Libya, and the current conflict in Syria, where he and his production team were kidnapped in December. He is the author of two books, A Fist in the Hornet’s Nest: On the Ground in Baghdad Before, During & After the War(Hyperion, 2004), and a follow-up, War Journal: My Five Years in Iraq(Simon & Schuster, 2011).

John Tognino, PCS ’75, chairman and chief executive officer of Pepper Financial Group and a former executive at Merrill Lynch and NASDAQ, has been one of the most steadfast and generous supporters of Fordham for more than a decade. He has served for 12 years on the Board of Trustees, including eight years as chairman, and has given abundantly of his time and energies in the cause of the University’s advancement. He and is wife, Norma, created the Tognino Family Endowed Scholarship, which supports nontraditional students, and the Tognino Endowment for Disability Services. In 2007 they made a planned gift of $3.5 million to name Tognino Hall in Duane Library.

Paulette LoMonaco, R.G.S., has served since 1980 as executive director of Good Shepherd Services, a social service agency that provides a variety of services to vulnerable youth, children and families. Under her leadership, the agency has dramatically expanded and become nationally recognized for its innovative service models. Today it helps 27,000 people in New York and serves as a leading example for excellence not only in providing direct services to the disadvantaged, but also in advocating on their behalf. Under Sister LoMonaco’s tenure, Good Shepherd Services also began operating transfer schools in partnership with New York City that give truant students a second chance at high school graduation.

Dion DiMucci, a native of the Bronx, found fame as lead singer of Dion and the Belmonts in the 1950s. In the decades since, he has built a following as one of the most soulful and influential musicians of his time. He has received two Grammy nominations and has been cited as a formative influence by Paul Simon, Lou Reed, Bruce Springsteen, and Bob Dylan. DiMucci is known for his range and versatility, having developed an early style that melded R&B, blues, doo-wop, and rock and roll, and having recorded a number of gospel albums as well. His greatest hits include “Runaround Sue,” “The Wanderer,” and “Abraham, Martin and John.” He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989.

Preet Bharara, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York since 2009, was named one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World byTime magazine in 2012, which also featured him in a cover story, “This Man is Busting Wall Street.” He has put new focus on financial crimes as well as other complex and sophisticated offenses, forming units to focus on cybercrime as well as the often-linked areas of terrorism and narcotics. His new civil fraud unit has collected nearly $500 million in settlements for faulty lending practices and other crimes. Other victories on his watch include prosecution of key members of the computer hacking groups Anonymous and LulzSec, and more than 70 convictions for insider trading.

Sally J. Bellet,Esq., LAW ’76, former vice president of real estate development for Amtrak, is president of the Stein/Bellet Foundation and a philanthropist who has given generously in support of education, medical research, and the arts. She established the Edward and Marilyn Bellet Chair in Legal Ethics, Morality and Religion at Fordham Law School in 2006, as well as the Bellet Scholars Program for students with a particular interest in ethical leadership. She serves on the advisory board for the law school’s Louis Stein Center for Law and Ethics, founded by her grandfather, Louis Stein, LAW ’26.

Patricia E. Harris, first deputy mayor of New York City, plays a pivotal role in city government by overseeing numerous departments and initiatives and making sure the various parts of city government work well together. Twice named one of the top five most powerful women in New York City by Crain’s New York Business, she is Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s closest aide. Among other duties, she oversees the departments of cultural affairs, landmarks, and parks, and serves as board chair for the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City. She created NYC Service, the city’s service initiative, and also represented Mayor Bloomberg on the 9/11 Memorial Jury, responsible for selecting the final design of the 9/11 Memorial.

Kaushik Basu, Ph.D., chief economist and senior vice president for development economics at the World Bank, is an internationally respected thought leader with a reputation for ideas that are inventive and sometimes provocative. He previously served as chief economic adviser to the government of his native India, at the Ministry of Finance, and has held visiting positions at top universities including Harvard, Princeton, MIT, and the London School of Economics. Basu has written more than a dozen books and 160 scholarly papers, as well as numerous popular articles. He is on leave from Cornell University, where he is a professor of economics and the C. Marks Professor of International Studies.