State Sen. Nick Miller announced a $250,000 state grant at a community meeting Thursday at a Lehigh Valley senior center. The grant will bolster cybersecurity infrastructure across Lehigh and Northampton counties.
Miller also fielded questions from residents about AI scams, election security, and the growing threat of data breaches.
Miller, a Democrat representing portions of Lehigh and Northampton counties and the minority chair of the Senate Communications and Technology Committee, said the $250,000 grant will help local governments fight cybercrime on multiple fronts.
The state, in partnership with Concurrent Technologies Corporation—a Pennsylvania-based defense and cybersecurity contractor—will assess county systems for vulnerabilities and train government staff to recognize and avoid phishing, malware, and other cyber threats.
“This is not a partisan issue; it’s a real community issue,” Miller said. “These attacks are actively happening.”
The event took place at Lehigh Valley Active Life, a community center on West Elm Street in Allentown that offers programs, social activities, and resources to seniors. The center is sponsored in part by the Lehigh County Office of Aging and Adult Services.
About a dozen residents attended.
They raised concerns about phone scams, AI-generated content, and the security of November’s elections.
Miller pointed to a string of cyberattacks on local institutions as evidence of the urgency. Allentown was hit with a cyberattack in 2018 that cost roughly $1 million in ransom and resulted in the loss of data.
In 2023, Lehigh Valley Health Network was targeted by the BlackCat ransomware group, resulting in the compromise of patients’ personal information. And in 2025, the OnSolve CodeRED emergency notification system used across the region was itself breached.
Miller also referenced a recent incident at Lehigh Carbon Community College, though he said his office had not yet been fully briefed on its scope.
Miller said his primary focus within the grant is employee training, specifically ensuring that government workers do not inadvertently open the door to attacks by clicking on malicious links.
“Sometimes that’s half the battle,” he said. “That’s essentially opening the door to foreign entities entering your own system.”
Both counties are already working with a project manager from CTC to assess current systems and identify gaps, Miller said.
‘How honest things will be’
Not everyone in the room arrived with cybersecurity on their mind. Estelle Marr, 83, of Alburtis, said she had been sitting in the lobby when she decided to step in.
“I was sitting out in the lobby, and it was here, so I thought I’d come in,” she said.
By the end of the hour, she said the scope of the issue surprised her.
“I didn’t realize how the government is involved in it,” Marr said. “I was mostly thinking about it on a personal level, but I can see now that it’s much more wide-ranging than I realized.”
Estelle said she had watched a friend lean heavily on AI tools for everyday tasks, including setting up a TV with step-by-step guidance, but remained skeptical of the technology’s broader implications.
“It seems like it takes the personalization out of things,” she said. “It’ll take the meaning out of a lot of things, unless they find a better way to handle it.” Her core concern, she said, was simpler: “How honest things will be.”
She said she’d looked up Miller on her phone before the event began, just to see who he was.
For seniors who are uncomfortable navigating government services online, Miller’s constituent service representative, Kyle Ropski, said his office can help. Residents can visit the senator’s office to complete government forms on paper or have staff assist them in person.
“If they want to talk to a real person and fill out a government form, they can come in and we’ll take care of it,” Ropski said.
Scams hit close to home
Several attendees, including Rick Dougherty, executive director of Lehigh Valley Active Life, described close calls with sophisticated fraud attempts.
Dougherty said he nearly fell for a scam from someone posing as a PPL representative, the regional electric utility.
“They had me,” Dougherty said. “The threat of cutting the power had me. It was only when they said they were going to come take the meters off the building that I snapped out of it.”
Miller shared a similar experience, describing a spoofing scheme in which a caller impersonated his bank’s legitimate phone number. Miller said he came close to complying before calling his local branch directly and learning the fraud was widespread.
“I consider myself tech-savvy, and I was this close to being fooled,” he said.
When asked what residents should do if they believe they’ve been scammed, Miller recommended contacting local or state police.
He also directed attendees to a new cybersecurity resource page at SenatorMiller.com, which includes a complaint form from the Office of Attorney General, AARP materials and information from the senator’s Scam Jam community events. A Spanish-language option is available on the site.
AI legislation, data centers and election security
Attendees also raised broader technology concerns, including deepfakes and AI-generated content. Miller noted that a Pennsylvania man was recently prosecuted under a 2024 state law for generating AI-manipulated child sexual abuse material using images of children known to him.
“The technology is moving very quickly,” Miller said, adding that a bill protecting minors from AI chatbots had recently passed the Senate and was awaiting action in the House.
On data centers, Miller said he supports local control over siting decisions and pushed back on a Senate bill that would have stripped municipalities of authority to block or regulate such facilities. He said the provision was removed from the bill in committee.
“I want South Whitehall commissioners to be the ones who decide if a data center is a good fit for their community,” he said.
One attendee pressed Miller on election security ahead of the November election. Miller said Pennsylvania’s elections are “safe and secure” and that briefings on proactive monitoring for caucuses are ongoing.
“Your vote is counted, and we’re going to continue making sure that stays the same,” he said.
Miller also referenced the January 2024 ransomware attack by the Akira group that knocked Bucks County’s 911 dispatch system offline for nine days. He called it one of the catalysts for state cybersecurity investment.
As Lehigh and Northampton counties prepare to put these new resources to work, officials say cybersecurity assessments and staff training will begin in the coming weeks. Miller encouraged residents to stay vigilant, adding, “Cyber threats will keep evolving, but so will our defenses.”
Miller also said the state is watching for potential federal interference in Pennsylvania’s election processes, noting that Gov. Josh Shapiro has already pursued legal action to protect state procedures.
This is the part where we ask.
No billionaire owner. No paywall. Just you keeping local news free.
$5 keeps us going
100% funds local journalism.
Jai Smith is a lifetime Lehigh Valley resident on a mission to empower local underserved communities and inform the public while providing journalists and storytellers a platform to develop the next generation of news media.
