WASHINGTON, DC – Today, U.S. Senator Rob Portman (R-OH), Ranking Member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, applauded the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for releasing the Notice of Funding Opportunity for the new State and Local Cybersecurity Grant program. This new program was signed into law as a part of the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which Portman played a lead role in crafting. The anticipated allocation will provide much-needed cybersecurity resources for State and Local governments to improve their defenses, including an expected nearly $5 million for the state of Ohio. This notice is the first step in implementing the program, which will amount to $1 billion in total appropriations in the next four years.
“I am pleased DHS took the first important step to implement this new grant program. State and local governments are increasingly the target of cyberattacks and frequently lack the resources to be able to defend against them. I was proud to lead the bipartisan infrastructure bill which created this new grant program. It will help ensure Ohio has the resources it needs to improve cybersecurity across the state,” said Portman.
NOTE: In June, Portman’s State and Local Cybersecurity Improvement Act was signed into law. That bill facilitates coordination between DHS and state and local governments in several key areas. The legislation requires the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency to provide state and local actors with access to improved security tools, policies and procedures, while also encouraging collaboration for the effective implementation of those resources, including joint cybersecurity exercises. The legislation also builds on previous efforts by the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC) to prevent, protect, and respond to future cybersecurity incidents. These changes ensure that government officials and their staffs have access to the hardware and software products needed to bolster their cyber defenses.
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