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The new grants will be available to state and local governments, as well as tribal entities.
The United States Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) have announced a new round of grants offering more than US$100 million towards boosting cyber security in the community.
The grants are split into two parts. The first, the fiscal year 2025 State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program, sets aside US$91.7 million for state and local governments to provide cyber security training, hire experts in the field, and provide more secure services for citizens.
The second, the Tribal Cybersecurity Grant Program, provides US$12.1 million for tribal governments looking to engage in the same kinds of cyber security uplift.
“This grant funding ensures communities and our partners across the nation have the crucial resources needed to strengthen their cyber defence capabilities and mitigate risk,” CISA acting director Madhu Gottumukkala said in a statement.
“CISA is proud to empower state, local, and tribal governments to build more resilient cyber ecosystems. This unified DHS approach enables innovative solutions that strengthen digital infrastructure, and helps communities invest in meaningful cyber security improvements to protect the critical services they provide. This is another example of investing in our communities while being good stewards of our taxpayer dollars.”
The cyber grants program began in 2022, with an initial offering of US$1 billion available over the ensuing four years. This is the final year of the grants program.
Spend and cut
The Trump administration is likely pleased that this is the final year of grants being offered under the cyber grants program.
As of June, CISA is estimated to have had as much as a third of its workforce cut, while FEMA’s numbers are down by around 20 per cent. CISA, in particular, has seen much of its senior leadership depart in the last few months, leading some remaining employees to worry about the agency’s future.
“With these significant number of senior departures, several of which are leaders who have been here since the days of US-CERT, there’s a lot of anxiety around when the cuts and departures will finally stop and we can move forward as an agency,” one anonymous CISA employee told news outlet Cybersecurity Dive in May.
David Hollingworth has been writing about technology for over 20 years, and has worked for a range of print and online titles in his career. He is enjoying getting to grips with cyber security, especially when it lets him talk about Lego.
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