The Federal Fiscal Year 2025 NJ State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program (SLCGP) from the New Jersey Cybersecurity & Communications Integration Cell (NJCCIC) has opened. Deadline to submit a grant application is September 5.
The grant opportunity is available to all local government entities. The goal of SLCGP is to improve cybersecurity. It will provide assistance for managing and reducing cyber risk through development and establish appropriate governance structures, as well as develop, implement, or revise cybersecurity plans, to improve capabilities to respond to cybersecurity incidents and ensure continuity of operations. It will also advance local governments’ understanding of their current cybersecurity postures and areas for improvement based on continuous testing, evaluation, and structured assessments. Finally, the grants will help implement security protections commensurate with risk and ensure organization personnel are appropriately trained in cybersecurity commensurate with responsibility.
The following four projects have been approved for grant funds to implement them.
Cybersecurity Governance and Planning to help local governments develop and establish governance structures, including developing and implementing cybersecurity plans, documented policies, and standards. NJCCIC will develop cybersecurity policy templates. An effective step to gain public trust is to migrate vanity and other government domains using .com, .net, or .org to .gov. This project aims to increase trust in NJ government organizations by providing support and guidance to organizations wishing to adopt .gov. Please note that .gov domains are managed by the US Department of Homeland Security and are free to verified government organizations.
Cybersecurity Risk Management to identify, assess, and prioritize risk remediations efforts while also driving improvements to overall cybersecurity posture. Cybersecurity and Program Controls Assessment (CPCA) managed by NJCCIC allows participating organizations to evaluate their current cybersecurity posture, identify potential vulnerabilities and gaps, and develop a plan for improving security measures. NJCCIC also manages continuous cybersecurity rating and risk monitoring services that provide organizations with an easy-to-understand assessment of their cybersecurity posture.
Enhance Cybersecurity Resilience includes two cybersecurity resilience enhancement initiatives: the Advance Endpoint Protection and Multi-Factor Authentication Hardware Tokens. The NJCCIC Advance Endpoint Protection solution includes several modules that together provide a comprehensive, integrated, and proactive approach to security for an organization's laptops, desktops, and servers. The Advance Endpoint Protection solution includes next-generation antivirus, endpoint detection and response, IT Hygiene, managed threat hunting, vulnerability management, USB device control, and threat intelligence. As there are many different Multi-Factor Authentication Hardware Tokens, grant funds will be used to purchase Multi-Factor Authentication Hardware Tokens that are provided to users in cases where the use of other Multi-Factor Authentication methods is not a viable solution.
Workforce Development provides IT and cybersecurity personnel with training resources and opportunities to develop knowledge, skills, and abilities to address evolving cyber challenges.
A total of $2,838,000 in funding is available for grant awards, with 80% of the grant funds required to be allocated to local government cyber risk reduction projects. Of that 80%, 25% is required to be allocated to rural area, which is defined as a municipality with a population less than 50,000.
Local government entities that wish to participate in the SLCGP are required to complete and submit the online Local Consent Agreement and the NJ SLCGP Resource Request Application. Upon submission of the application, the local governments will receive a PDF copy of their submissions and a link to complete the local consent form.
Applications are due by 6:00 p.m. on September 5.
For more information, we suggest you review the NJCCIC SLCGP August 12 presentation.
Contact: SLCGP at 1-833-4-NJCCIC (833-465-2242) or by email at njccic@cyber.nj.gov