Baker-Polito Administration Announces Municipal Cybersecurity Awareness Grant Program Awards

 Baker-Polito Administration Announces Municipal Cybersecurity Awareness Grant Program Awards

44,000 employees from 107 local government organizations including municipalities and public school districts will receive cybersecurity awareness training to better detect and avoid cyber threats 

BOSTON – Today, the Baker-Polito Administration announced the second round of award recipients for the Municipal Cybersecurity Awareness Grant Program. Over 44,000 municipal and public school employees from 107 local government organizations across the Commonwealth will receive critical training to better detect and avoid cyber threats.

Identified by the National Governors Association (NGA) as “the single most effective factor in preventing security breaches and data losses,” this critical cybersecurity awareness training will provide online end-user training and cyber threat simulations to further educate municipal and public school employees participating in the program. The grant program is managed by the Executive Office of Technology Services and Security (EOTSS) and is funded with $250,000 of capital IT authorizations from Governor Baker’s General Governmental Bond Bill, which the Legislature passed into law in 2020 to invest in Commonwealth cybersecurity and IT infrastructure modernization initiatives.

“Cyber threats continue to evolve, making cyber awareness training an essential tool for municipalities and public schools in the Commonwealth to equip their employees with the knowledge on how to avoid the potentially costly missteps of falling prey to cyber attacks,” said Governor Charlie Baker. “We will continue to seek out opportunities to improve the cybersecurity posture of the Commonwealth and its communities.”

“Participation in these cyber awareness grants is a great way for municipalities to best protect their IT and data assets from cyber threats without having to divert resources away from other important government services,” said Lt. Governor Karyn Polito. “We are pleased to collaborate with our partners in local government to best protect the communities we serve.”

Building off of the first-ever Municipal Cybersecurity Awareness Grant Program announced at the end of 2019, this new grant round will provide updated training for both municipalities and school districts who participated in the previous round as well as those new to the program. The online training materials provided to municipal and public school employees includes a variety of cybersecurity attack simulations that reflect malicious luring techniques commonly used by cyber criminals to gain access to IT systems and data:

• Email phishing attacks

• ‘Smishing’ SMS attacks

• USB drop attacks

• Link-based, attachment-based, and data-entry attacks

“In addition to providing training to the Commonwealth’s state workforce, we are thrilled to extend this vital training to our partners in local government,” said Secretary of Technology Services and Security Curt Wood. “Building a culture of cyber awareness, local governments can grow their security teams to be the responsibility of all employees.”

Map and List of Award Recipients:

Community	Organization(s)	School District (if applicable)	Employees to Receive Cyber Training
Acushnet	Town and School	Acushnet Public Schools	175
Amesbury	Town and School	Amesbury Public School	700
Amherst	Town only		350
Andover	Town and School	Andover Public Schools	1000
Ashland	Town and School	Ashland Public School	750
Attleboro	Town only		250
Auburn	Town only		135
Barnstable	Town only		155
Bellingham	Town only		50
Berlin	Town only		80
Blandford	Town only		1
Bourne	School only	Upper Cape Cod Regional Technical School	120
Braintree	Town and School	Town of Braintree	1200
Burlington	Town and School	Burlington Public Schools	500
Byfield	School only	Triton Regional School District	60
Charlton	Town only		213
Chatham	Town only		140
Chelmsford	School only	Chelmsford Public Schools	941
Chelmsford	Town only		200
Cohasset	Town and School	Cohasset	550
Concord	Town only		410
Danvers	Town and School	Danvers Public Schools	400
Dartmouth	Town only		200
Dartmouth	School Only	Dartmouth Public Schools	15
Dedham	Town and School	Dedham Schools	1000
Dennis	Town only		175
Dighton	Town only		73
Dighton	School only	Bristol County Agricultural High School	81
Douglas	Town and School	Douglas Public Schools	280
Dover	Town only		25
Dracut	Town only		190
Dudley	Town only		30
Duxbury	Town and School	Duxbury Public Schools	770
East Bridgewater	Town and School	East Bridgewater Public Schools	140
Easthampton	Town Only		70
Edgartown	Town only		100
Falmouth	Town and School	Falmouth Public Schools	997
Foxborough	Town and School	Foxborough Public Schools	700
Gloucester	Town only		400
Greenfield	Town and School	Greenfield Public Schools	180
Halifax	Town only		300
Hanover	School only	South Shore Regional Vocational Technical School District	150
Hanover	School only	Hanover Public Schools	560
Hanson	Town only		115
Holbrook	Town only		110
Holden	Town only		180
Lakeville	Town and School	Freetown-Lakeville RSD	60
Lancaster	Town only		97
Lawrence	Town only		600
Littleton	Town only		130
Longmeadow	Town and School	Longmeadow Public Schools	1120
Lowell	Town and School	Lowell Public Schools	4000
Ludlow	Town only		150
Manchester-by-the-Sea	Town only		100
Marblehead	Town and School	Marblehead Public Schools	130
Maynard	Town and School	Maynard Public Schools	200
Medfield	Town and School	Medfield Public Schools	500
Medway	Town only		150
Melrose	Town and School	Melrose Public Schools	600
Methuen	Town only		275
Middleborough	Town only		100
Middleton	Town only		45
Milford	Town only		250
Milton	Town only		200
Nantucket	Town and School	Nantucket Public Schools	500
Natick	School only	Natick Public Schools	1000
Needham	Town only		300
New Bedford	Town and School	New Bedford Public School	3500
Newbury	Town only		50
Newton	Town only		830
Norfolk	Town and School	Norfolk Public Schools	117
North Adams	Town only		90
North Andover	Town only		250
North Attleborough	Town and School	North Attleborough School	800
North Reading	Town and School	North Reading Public Schools	350
Northampton	Town and School	Northampton Public Schools	800
Norton	Town and School	Norton Public Schools	400
Norwell	Town only		100
Orleans	Town only		130
Peabody	Town only		160
Pittsfield	Town only		475
Plymouth	Town only		225
Provincetown	Town and School	Provincetown Schools	250
Reading	Town and School	Reading Public School	1300
Rochester	School only	Old Colony Regional Vocational Technical High School	110
Rockland	Town only		100
Sandwich	Town and School	Sandwich Public Schools	180
Scituate	Town only		200
Scituate	School only	Scituate Public Schools	500
Somerset	Town only		50
Southbridge	Town only		120
Southwick	Town only		132
Southwick	School only	Southwick-Tolland-Granville Regional School District	275
Sutton	Town and School	Sutton Public Schools	280
Tewksbury	Town and School	Tewksbury Public Schools	800
Truro	Town only		20
Tyngsborough	School only	Greater Lowell Technical High School	350
Wales	Town only		75
Ware	Town only		55
Wareham	Town and School	Wareham Public Schools	550
Wellesley	School only	Wellesley Public Schools	100
West Springfield	Town and School	West Springfield Public Schools	1140
Westfield	Town and School	Westfield Public Schools	1700
Westhampton	Town only		8
Wilmington	Town and School	Wilmington Public Schools	235
Worcester	Town only		1600
Wrentham	Town only		17

 

For more information on the Municipal Cybersecurity Awareness Grant Program, visit the grant homepage.