There is a need a for secure and confidential communications in order to conduct government business, Gov. Andrew Cuomo told reporters this afternoon in Utica.

And that’s especially true in order to prevent prying eyes from seeing sensitive information, he said.

“I was in the attorney general’s office. Hacking is a problem and if you have a secure communication or confidential communication then you have to find the secure means to communicate it,” he said.

The Daily News reported on Monday that Cuomo uses his Blackberry’s PIN function to communicate with his top aides. Unlike email and traditional text messages, PINS leave no paper trail. The revelation came after a FOIL request from the newspaper and the Associated Press revealed that Cuomo does not send email.

His top advisers also seem to be wary of a paper trail as well. Earlier this year, a FOIL request from Capital Tonight for all communications with registered lobbyists and the governor’s top staff during the height of the budget-making process in Albany yielded very little.

Cuomo, who has pledged the most open and transparent administration in state history, has been on the defensive over his track record on sunlight.

The governor notes, however, that he has put a records retention policy in place early on in order to address the issue. He has also posted month-by-month public schedules on his website, though those appear to be sanitized versions of his day.

“The administration uses email, it uses PINS, it uses telephones, it uses paper and we have the first policy of any administration this early on exactly what should be retained and exactly how for what archives,” Cuomo said. “We have an aggressive policy that is in place and then we sort of — this government like anyone in this community, this company, uses any one of electronic devices to communicate and some are more secure than others.”

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