North Dakota State Chief Information Officer (CIO) Shawn Riley announced that more states have signed memorandums of understanding (MOUs) to be added to the Joint-Cybersecurity Operations Command Center (J-CSOC).
J-CSOC was established in North Dakota to help facilitate state-to-state sharing of cyber threat intelligence and is known to be the first of its kind.
“The J-CSOC is demonstrating unprecedented cooperation between states in the fight against cyberattacks. All member states are benefiting and redefining how we can defend ourselves against this system threat,” Riley said.
“The defense posture of the entire country is being improved due to the actions of the J-CSOC,” said Riley.
Currently, the J-CSOC is nearing a 20 percent total of states in the nation that have agreed to join the program, and it aims to reach a total of 30 percent by the end of the year.
The use of cyberattacks has become an increasing concern and the need for state cooperation to mitigate such attacks has become one of the most potent tools to stop such criminals.
“The J-CSOC is an innovative multi-state project that is of critical importance. If one state is being attacked, the others will most likely be targeted next. This allows us to rapidly exchange threat information to protect the state of North Dakota before it impacts our citizens,” said Chief Information Security Officer Michael Gregg.
