Wakefield Legislative Delegation Announces Cybersecurity Grants

BOSTON—State Senator Jason Lewis and State Representatives Kate Lipper-Garabedian and Donald Wong are pleased to announce that the Town of Wakefield has received a $84,066 Municipal Local Cybersecurity Grant and Northeast Metropolitan Regional Vocational High School has also received a cybersecurity grant of $78,700.

The Town of Wakefield will use its grant to migrate over to a .gov domain, execute a formal risk assessment followed by a documented response plan, initiate multifactor authentication for remote workers, and implement a cybersecurity training program for their employees.

The grant awarded to the Northeast Metropolitan Regional Vocational High School will be used for multi-factor authentication purposes, a cyber incident response plan, tabletop exercises, and cybersecurity training.

“As threats from cyberattacks continue to increase in danger and frequency, we must bolster cybersecurity measures across the board to be better prepared to counteract attacks quickly and with as little lasting effect as possible,” said State Senator Jason Lewis. “Grants such as these will enhance local cybersecurity practices and resources to better protect Wakefield and its residents from cyberattacks.”

"In an increasingly digital world with the continued possibility of cyber threats, I am glad to see both the Town of Wakefield and the Northeast Metropolitan Regional Vocational High School receive this cybersecurity grant funding," said State Representative Kate Lipper-Garabedian. "This funding will ensure that both the Town and the High School are better equipped in protecting against these cyber threats."

“In a time where there are so many new and different cyber attacks happening, receiving this grant can only help to protect our Town and its residents,” said State Representative Donald Wong.

“Like every Municipality, Wakefield faces a constant barrage of attempts to breach the security of our networks and data,” said Wakefield Town Administrator Stephen P. Maio. “This grant will help enhance the efforts we have made and continue to make to protect the Town from this very real threat.”

Northeast Metropolitan Regional Vocational High School noted that the “district faces significant challenges in safeguarding our information systems and ensuring the resilience of our digital operations. By leveraging this grant funding to fulfill these objectives, we will significantly improve the cybersecurity posture of Northeast Metropolitan Regional Vocational High School, reduce our exposure to cyber risks, and better protect the sensitive information entrusted to us by our students, staff, and stakeholders.”

Funding for these grants was secured through the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and is administered through the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security with approval from the Massachusetts Cybersecurity Planning Committee.