A Decade of Cyber Defense Excellence Through the NJCCIC

On May 21, 2025

The New Jersey Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness (NJOHSP) celebrated the 10-year anniversary of the New Jersey Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Cell (NJCCIC), marking a decade of achievements in safeguarding the Garden State’s digital infrastructure.

Established on May 20, 2015, the NJCCIC became the nation’s first state-level organization dedicated solely to cybersecurity information sharing and analysis. Its creation was a proactive response to the growing threat of cyberattacks targeting New Jersey’s residents, businesses, government agencies, and critical infrastructure. The concept was born out of lessons learned during Super Bowl XLVIII, hosted at MetLife Stadium in 2014, which highlighted the urgent need for coordinated, statewide cybersecurity capability. That experience underscored the importance of integrating cyber threat intelligence, response coordination, and communication across both public and private sectors.

Over the past decade, the NJCCIC has grown into a nationally recognized model for state-level cybersecurity, providing real-time threat intelligence, incident response support, and best practices to entities across New Jersey and beyond.

In its early years, the NJCCIC primarily served as a one-stop shop for sharing threat intelligence, incident reporting, and analysis. Located at the New Jersey Regional Operations & Intelligence Center (NJ ROIC) and modeled after the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) National Cybersecurity & Communications Integration Center, the NJCCIC brought together experts from NJOHSP, the New Jersey Office of Information Technology, and the New Jersey State Police under one roof. This unique structure enabled wide and transparent information sharing with not only government agencies but also businesses and residents, an approach lauded by cybersecurity researchers as innovative.

Today, the NJCCIC provides comprehensive active cyber defense, incident response, and continuous risk monitoring services for State and local government entities, including counties, municipalities, K-12 school districts, state and community colleges, and public water systems. The NJCCIC’s cyber defenses ingest, analyze, and action as appropriate more than 24 billion security indicators daily, and block over 10 million cyberattacks targeting government networks and systems monthly.

“We recognized early on that cybersecurity could not be siloed – it required a broad coalition,” said NJCCIC Director Michael Geraghty. “Over the past decade, the NJCCIC’s mission has grown from simply gathering intelligence to actively defending New Jersey’s networks. Today, we are stopping intrusions in real time and coordinating cyber responses statewide, which is a testament to how far New Jersey has come in treating cybersecurity as a core homeland security issue.”

New Jersey’s approach to cybersecurity – integrating it within the State’s homeland security framework – has drawn national attention. The National Governors Association (NGA) has highlighted New Jersey’s cybersecurity structure as a model for other states, noting how NJCCIC’s placement in NJOHSP elevates cyber defense as both a homeland security and a national security function. In 2022, the NGA acknowledged New Jersey’s model for its effective governance structure and its rapid progress in building statewide cyber capabilities, reinforcing that New Jersey is leading by example.

“New Jersey’s whole-of-state cybersecurity strategy proves that a unified approach works,” said NJOHSP Director Laurie Doran. “By treating cyber threats as terrorism or disaster threats, we’ve broken down bureaucratic silos. The NJCCIC’s work is now woven into our counterterrorism, counterintelligence, and preparedness efforts, ensuring that when cyber incidents happen, we respond with the same urgency and coordination as we would to any homeland security threat.”

“As someone who was integrally involved in the creation of the NJCCIC following Super Bowl XLVIII over a decade ago, it is incredibly rewarding to witness its evolution into a nationally recognized model for state-level cybersecurity operations. This milestone is a testament to the enduring vision, leadership, and commitment of Director Geraghty and the entire NJCCIC team,” said NJOHSP Deputy Director Daniel Engelhardt.

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