Whole-of-State Participant Information

Minnesota's local government entities and organizations play a pivotal role in helping to protect Minnesotans’ data. Entities can strengthen their own cyber defenses while boosting cyber resiliency across Minnesota when they participate in the Whole-of-State Cybersecurity Plan.

Together, MNIT and partnering entities are creating a layered approach to cybersecurity. Local entities benefit from participating in the Whole-of-State plan because they can: 

• Improve their access to cybersecurity tools, resources, and services at a reduced cost through grant subsidy.
• Partner with MNIT to improve communication and freely share information. 

The Whole-of-State Cybersecurity Plan meets every organization where it is at in its cyber defenses, and works with organizations to advance stronger, sustainable cybersecurity tools.  

Security services available

• Managed Detection and Response (MDR): A 24/7 solution that looks for the types of attacks that could lead to data breaches, ransomware, or other major events and blocks those attacks.
• Internal Vulnerability Scanning: Internal scanning conducts in-depth vulnerability and configuration compliance scanning using credentials/agents technology. This service is available only to SSMI-eligible entities currently.
• External Vulnerability Scanning: Internet-facing cloud scanners perform external scans to assess an entity’s threat and vulnerability posture from an outside perspective.

Become a participant

Local government entities are encouraged to become a whole-of-state participant and take advantage of the available cybersecurity opportunities offered at a subsidized cost. 

Who is eligible

Minnesota entities eligible to participate in the Whole-of-State Cybersecurity Plan and receive subsidized cybersecurity services include: 

• Counties, municipalities, cities, towns, townships, local public authorities, port cities.
• Rural communities, unincorporated towns or villages, or other public entities.
• Authorized Tribal governments and organizations.
• K-12 school districts, special districts, intrastate districts. 
• Councils of government, regional or interstate government entities, or agencies or instrumentalities of a local government.
• Government-affiliated critical infrastructure.

Next steps

1. Contact MNIT’s Cyber Navigators CN.MNIT@state.mn.us.
2. Read the Participant Guide:   Whole-of-State Plan Participant Guide (PDF)
3. Fill out the survey to show your interest:   Whole-of-State SLCGP survey
4. Find answers to Frequently Asked Questions:   Whole-of-State FAQs

The role of Cyber Navigators

Two programs help subsidize security services

Minnesota's eligible entities are able to receive cybersecurity services at a lower cost thanks to grant funding either through the Statewide Security Monitoring Initiative (SSMI) or the State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program (SLCGP). 

The Whole-of-State Cybersecurity Plan builds on the success of SSMI and welcomes more local units of government using funds from the federal government and the Minnesota Legislature through SLCGP. 

MNIT, along with its Security Operations Center (SOC) and Threat and Vulnerability Management Unit (TVMU), access the funds and then offer subsidized cybersecurity programs and services to eligible organizations in Minnesota under the Whole-of-State Plan.

1. State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program

Minnesota’s Whole-of-State Cybersecurity Plan incorporates the required elements for the SLCGP, which the State and Local Cybersecurity Improvement Act created. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) administer this grant program; MNIT and the Cybersecurity Task Force implement it in Minnesota. 

To get started in the Whole-of-State SLCGP program:

• Fill out the Whole-of-State SLCGP Survey with your organization’s information. 

• Send an email to the Cyber Navigator team notifying them you completed the survey: CN.MNIT@state.mn.us.

2. Statewide Security Monitoring Initiative

SSMI is a grant-funded program devoted to partnering with participating eligible entities to fortify the cybersecurity of the entire State of Minnesota.

• Provides infrastructure, hardware, and software for cybersecurity detection and monitoring, security event detection, incident validation, and incident response support for suspicious and malicious network events.
• Improves situational awareness of and response to cybersecurity incidents that impact Minnesota government, specifically counties, port cities, and Tribal Nations.
• Offers external and internal vulnerability scans for partner agencies.
• Creates a layered approach to security starting with secure access to MNET through partnering with a vendor that provides 24/7 endpoint protection monitoring service. 

SSMI services are targeted toward county governments, port cites, and Tribal Nations.

• Email our Cyber Navigator team to learn more: CN.MNIT@state.mn.us.

What we want to accomplish

The whole-of-state approach uses SLCGP and SSMI funding to protect Minnesotans by advancing stronger, sustainable cybersecurity tools and processes that leverage best practices, build on past successes, meet every organization where they are, and educate and freely share information. This continued security modernization effort will allow us to collectively:

• Discover our collective statewide cybersecurity strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats so they can be addressed.
• Analyze what we learn, to identify appropriate solutions.
• Meet participants where they are in their cybersecurity maturity, and provide security products and services that will help expand statewide security endpoint detection and response (EDR) capabilities.
• Grow the Minnesota cybersecurity community to work together under the .gov domain, collaborate, and share technology and information about industry changes and the State of Minnesota-specific security observations, including collaboration with the Minnesota National Guard. This community is served by a Cyber Navigator Program that assigns security experts to each participating organization to help with their efforts.
• Establish a shared plan that encourages participants to adopt sustainable and evolutionary systems.
• Continue to build up security capabilities to form a foundation for automation, artificial intelligence, and machine learning to keep the modernized infrastructure hardened.