DOIT urges funding for cybersecurity upgrades, proposes partial funding for cloud services

Dennis Goulet, Commissioner of the Department of Information Technology, told legislators that the department’s top capital priority is cybersecurity. "We think it appropriate that, if nothing else got funded, that the cybersecurity capital be funded," Goulet said, citing frequent ransomware attempts and the evolving threat landscape.

Goulet said about 82% of inbound email traffic is being flagged as malicious and that recent protections had stopped significant ransomware attempts. DOIT proposed three capital projects: cybersecurity enhancements, IT service management phase two, and cloud solutions and services. The governor’s recommendation funded cloud services; DOIT asked the committee to reallocate priorities by fully funding cybersecurity, removing IT service management phase two from this cycle and trimming cloud funding to $850,000 so the cybersecurity work can proceed.

Goulet described federal and grant funding channels DOIT uses to support municipalities and schools: small allocations from homeland security grants and a state‑and‑local cyber grant program created by the federal infrastructure bill. New Hampshire’s grant program has been used to provide services and training to cities, towns and K–12 districts rather than subgrants. Goulet said the state partners with PrimeX (the municipal insurance pool) and the New Hampshire Municipal Association on outreach and training to avoid duplication and achieve economies of scale.

Committee members asked for evidence of need and for coordination with counties, school districts and emergency partners. Goulet pointed to regular incidents in municipalities and K–12 districts and to the state’s partnerships with CISA and the FBI: "we partner very closely with the CISA," he said, and New Hampshire was an early recipient of year‑one approval under the federal state and local cyber grants.

Ending: DOIT asked the committee to fund cybersecurity as a top priority and to partially fund cloud migration so the department can continue technical modernization while using grant funds and partnerships to extend services to local governments and schools.