The town of Charlemont and the Frontier and Union 38 regional school districts will further their efforts to protect against the growing risk of cyber attacks thanks to a pair of grants awarded through the state’s Municipal Local Cybersecurity Grant Program.

These two local awards — $20,000 to Charlemont and $45,000 to the Frontier and Union 38 school districts — are part of roughly $6.82 million that the Healey-Driscoll administration distributed in July to reduce cyber risk across the state.

The program prioritized funding for projects in rural communities, which the Federal Emergency Management Agency defines as any community with a population less than 50,000. At least 84 of the grants were given to municipalities meeting FEMA’s definition of rural. Additional grants were awarded to regional divisions of government, such as county government and regional school districts, that benefit multiple communities, including rural towns.

“It’s vital that our communities have access to the resources, tools and guidance necessary to protect against increasingly frequent and sophisticated cybersecurity threats,” Gov. Maura Healey said in a statement.

Scott Paul, Frontier’s director of technology, explained the districts will use the $45,000 in grant funding to hire external contractors, yet to be selected, who will review the districts’ current cybersecurity threat response plan. The contractors will also help with conducting tabletop exercises to practice using the plan.

“There’s a lot of layers of defense that we have to put up, and one of those is basically: have a plan in place, before the [incident] happens,” Paul explained. “This particular grant will allow us to refine our plans so that if something severe did happen, we would be more ready for it and ready to respond.”

These threats include ransomware attacks in which hackers hold critical systems hostage until money is paid, attacks in which digital services are rendered unusable and information theft for fraudulent activity, Paul clarified.

“There’s always attempts to try and gain access to network resources, and there’s a constant defense that we have to pursue,” Paul said. “Nothing major has come our way, thankfully, but we have to be ready for more severe cyber attacks that you often see in the public sector.”

Darius Modestow, superintendent of the Frontier and Union 38 districts, said he was “thrilled” to hear the districts received the grant.

“It is a testament to our ongoing efforts to protect our community’s data and a crucial step toward enhancing our cybersecurity capabilities,” Modestow wrote in an email. “Our IT department works tirelessly to ensure our systems are secure, and this funding will significantly bolster our efforts.”

Charlemont will undergo a similar process and will also add a new two-factor authentication system.

“We’re trying to make sure [the cybersecurity system] matches our state and what our insurance company requires,” explained Charlemont Town Administrator Sarah Reynolds.

Charlemont has not previously been the victim of a cyber attack, Reynolds said.

“I should knock on wood,” she added. “This is more of a proactive [measure].”

Both recipients will have a year to use the money to hire vendors to review their cybersecurity systems and plans, undergo tabletop exercises and make revisions.