Arizona's new Cyber Command Center opened recently at ceremony in the Department of Public Safety’s Arizona Counter Terrorism Information Center (ACTIC) in Phoenix.

The Cyber Command Center will be Arizona's headquarters for coordinating statewide cybersecurity operations. The center will be a central location for cybersecurity professionals and local, state and federal agencies to prevent and respond to cyberattacks. It will provide a location to enhance public-private partnerships and protect Arizonans against cyber threats.

State agencies will use this center to increase information sharing between one another. This expansion has led the state to rename the Arizona Cyber Information Program (ACIP) as the Arizona Information Sharing and Analysis Center (AZ-ISAC). AZ-ISAC is just one program that will be run out of the new cybersecurity operations center.

Tim Roemer, Director of the Arizona Department of Homeland Security and Chief Information Security Officer led the effort to launch the cybersecurity command center. He recommended combining the state’s cybersecurity mission with the Department of Homeland Security to better protect Arizona from increasing cybersecurity risks.