Dive Brief:
- As cybersecurity incidents proliferate across municipalities, the National League of Cities is teaming up with CyberAlliance to provide cybersecurity risk assessments for local governments and strategies to improve resilience. CyberAlliance is a U.S.-based cybersecurity company serving public-sector organizations.
- The program will provide access to workshops, cyber benchmarking and CyberAlliance’s AI-powered cyber intelligence platform, called Sally AI.
- The program comes amid uncertain local government resources after the Trump administration last year axed federal funding for the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center, a cybersecurity resource municipalities had used since 2003.
Dive Insight:
Local government leaders have described the MS-ISAC program as “critical” to their cybersecurity operations and advocated for restored federal funding.
Cybersecurity incidents among municipalities surged 42% in 2025, and state CIOs say they’re losing confidence in their ability to protect critical public-sector data amid the rising threats.
High-profile cybersecurity incidents this summer have crippled municipal operations in Minnesota, California and Washington, D.C.
Experts have credited the surge in incidents to attackers’ increased use of AI, and some have advocated for cities to deploy AI to help prevent them.
A coalition of local government organizations sent a letter to Congress in June urging lawmakers to allocate $300 million for the State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program in fiscal 2027.
“As state and local governments continue to face persistent threats from nation-state actors, ransomware groups, and other cybercriminals, sustained federal investment remains essential to ensuring every community has access to baseline cybersecurity capabilities,” the letter stated.
