Massachusetts awards $1M across 20 local governments, schools in new cyber grants

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey announced Tuesday that 20 local governments and school districts would be the first to receive a grant through the state’s new $1 million Cybersecurity Remediation Grant Program.

Led by the Executive Office of Technology Services and Security in partnership with the state’s Community Compact Cabinet, the program is aimed at helping municipalities and school districts strengthen their cybersecurity protections. Specifically, it intends to help these organizations reduce risks identified through the Office of Municipal and School Technology’s Cybersecurity Health Check Program — a free cyber assessment program for municipalities and school districts across the commonwealth.

The assessments aim to help local organizations identify vulnerabilities, evaluate existing protections and better understand areas where systems and infrastructure may be at risk. Following the assessments, the program identified several common cybersecurity challenges facing local governments and schools statewide: outdated infrastructure, unsupported hardware, governance gaps and limited cybersecurity resources. 

“Cybersecurity threats are becoming more sophisticated and continue to evolve, and every community deserves the tools needed to protect public systems and sensitive data information,” Healey said in a news release. “This investment will help municipalities and schools modernize their technology infrastructure, strengthen their defenses against cyberattacks, and better protect the people they serve.” 

A significant portion of the program’s funding will support the replacement of aging hardware, which the state said highlights the need for modernization across the local organizations. In 2024, Healey approved legislation clearing $1.23 billion for cybersecurity and other information technology upgrades across the state government. This included $25 million for the Community Compact Grant Programs, which funded Tuesday’s grants and other IT improvement initiatives for municipalities.

In addition to infrastructure modernization, several of the grants will go towards cybersecurity governance improvements, including active directory reviews, network architecture assessments, policy development and strategic consulting services designed to improve operational maturity and reduce risk. 

For example, the Foxborough Regional Charter School is receiving nearly $200,000 for hardware replacement, while the City of Lowell is receiving $40,000 for external cyber consulting hours.

The program also establishes a framework for future statewide cybersecurity planning by identifying recurring needs across municipalities and school districts. EOTSS and the Office of Municipal and School Technology said they will continue to evaluate long-term strategies that may include shared cybersecurity services, standardized security baselines, coordinated procurement efforts and regionalized support models.  

“Cybersecurity resilience starts with strong foundational infrastructure and risk management,” EOTSS Secretary and State Chief Information Officer Jason Snyder said in a news release. “This program demonstrates the value of combining cybersecurity assessments with targeted remediation funding to help communities address their most pressing vulnerabilities.”