The National Governors Association (NGA) selected seven states — Colorado, Michigan, Mississippi, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Tennessee — to participate in a new project focused on implementing best practices on advancing statewide cybersecurity. Throughout the 2020 project, governor-appointed, multi-disciplinary teams from the states will work to enhance their cybersecurity preparedness and response capabilities with strategic action planning.

Across the country, governors are increasingly recognizing cybersecurity as a critical business, continuity of government, homeland security and workforce development concern, says a release. While the security of state networks is essential, governors also play a key role in leading cybersecurity resilience for critical infrastructure and businesses, local governments and citizens across their states, NGA says.

States participating in the workshops will create strategic plans to address: statewide cybersecurity governance, critical infrastructure cybersecurity, statewide cyber disruption response planning, cybersecurity workforce development and state-local partnerships in cybersecurity.

The NGA Workshops to Advance State Cybersecurity will run from August to December of 2020. They are supported by NGA’s Resource Center for State Cybersecurity, which is co-chaired by Governor Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas and Governor John Bel Edwards of Louisiana.