Our region is receiving federal funding from a state cybersecurity grant program to help protect against cyber threats.

Allegany, Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, Erie, Orleans and Niagara counties will see the benefits. 

“Cyber threats are everywhere and with the important role technology plays in our day-to-day lives, it is crucial that organizations have the resources they need to keep themselves safe,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said. “These tokens will go a long way in supporting our partners and making our state safer overall. We will not wait for an attack to expose vulnerabilities – we are acting now to strengthen our defenses across the state.”

That money will provide multi-factor authentication hard tokens to various school districts, towns and villages within these counties.  

This makes it harder for criminals to gain access to private accounts.

“I’ve made it a priority to ensure Western New York has the federal resources needed to meet today’s growing cybersecurity threats. This $9 million investment will deliver critical multi-factor authentication hard tokens to counties, school districts, and local governments across Erie and Niagara Counties – strengthening our defenses, protecting public services, and keeping residents’ data safe,” Rep. Tim Kennedy added.