The state’s MassCyberCenter has announced the Cyber Resilient Massachusetts Grant Program, an overall pool of $1.4 million, which will be available soon to help its 351 municipalities address weaknesses discovered through cybersecurity vulnerability assessments. The money is also aimed at helping them integrate with security operations centers.
These one-time grants will also go toward paying government staff or vendors and contractors to help with cyber projects. There is a caveat: This grant cannot pay for needs that could be funded under the commonwealth’s pre-existing Municipal Local Cybersecurity Grant Program. That earlier program is aimed at helping local governments and local public entities with areas such as developing written cybersecurity incident response plans, testing them through tabletop exercises, adopting multifactor authentication, shifting to .gov domains and providing cybersecurity awareness training.
“Every community has their own unique set of technical challenges, so we are taking a localized approach that addresses those challenges head on,” said MassCyberCenter Director John Petrozzelli in a statement.
Splitting the $1.4 million equally among all 351 municipalities would spell about $4,000 each, but the MassCyberCenter says some applicants could receive up to $25,000. The first round of applications are due by 5 p.m. July 1, but applications sent in later will be accepted on a rolling basis and reviewed quarterly. Applications will continue to be accepted until the pool of money is gone.
More information is coming next week, with an informational webinar slated for Thursday. Interested parties can register here.
The full Notice of Funding Opportunity is available here and any questions should be emailed to proposals@masstech.org before May 30.
