If the bipartisan infrastructure package currently under consideration in the U.S. House becomes law, at least $10 million over four years will be sent to New Hampshire to beef up state and local cybersecurity initiatives, U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan said at an Aug. 23 roundtable at the University of New Hampshire-Manchester.

“In New Hampshire and all across the country, we’ve seen a rise in cybersecurity threats on schools, hospitals, businesses, local governments and more,” Hassan said at the roundtable.

She said the attacks “threaten crucial services, and they put our security at risk, and they’re continuing to evolve ... as the attacks have become more common, state and local governments don’t have the adequate resources to defend against them.”

If approved, the Department of Homeland Security would run the grant program, which would receive $200 million in fiscal year 2022, $400 million in FY 2023, $300 million in FY 2024 and $100 million in FY 2025. At least 80% of the grant money must go to local governments, and 25% would need to go to rural areas, according to a fact sheet from the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Maggie Hassan.

Denis Goulet, the state’s chief information officer, told the roundtable that his aim, if the grant program becomes reality, is to be “strategic on how we invest and also investing in a way that is actually useful and consumable, and something that we can continue after the grants expire.”

— JEFF FEINGOLD