On August 14, 2023, the U.S. Small Business Administration announced six recipients of its Cybersecurity for Small Business Pilot Program. The grantees—state agencies and universities—were to assist small businesses with cybersecurity infrastructure and threat mitigation. The agency said the federal program budget was $6 million and each recipient received a $1 million grant. [story-s1]
The selected organizations were in Colorado, Indiana, Ohio, Virginia, Hawaii and Wyoming. The SBA specified a one-year, 12-month performance period beginning August 31, 2023. That turns the announcement into an operationally bounded program: the awards supported intermediary organizations rather than direct grants to the individual businesses they would assist. [story-s1]
The release framed the pilot around a practical capacity gap, citing an SBA survey in which 88% of small-business owners felt their business was vulnerable to a cyberattack, while noting that cost, limited time and uncertainty about where to begin can constrain access to professional IT help. It also pointed to a virtual summit planned for each Wednesday in October, with public- and private-sector experts offering practical protection information. Those figures and plans describe the agency’s announcement; it does not measure the grants’ later impact or establish how many businesses ultimately received assistance. [story-s1]
Source documents
- U.S. Small Business Administration Announces New Cybersecurity Grant Recipients for 2023https://www.sba.gov/article/2023/08/14/us-small-business-administration-announces-new-cybersecurity-grant-recipients-2023