Regional summits will convene cyber defenders, researchers, and public servants to collaborate and protect community organizations that uphold public life
BERKELEY, Calif., February 17, 2026 – The UC Berkeley Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity (CLTC), a leading hub for cybersecurity research, education, and collaboration, today announced a series of three regional Cyber Civil Defense Summits planned for 2026. Three leading US states will co-host a summit with CLTC, which will foster regional collaboration to strengthen community cyber defense.
Community cyber defenders, including volunteers, emergency responders, researchers, local government officials, and sector-based experts will be invited to showcase replicable models of regional cyber defense that empower communities to work together to defend against cyber attacks. The three summits will be held at:
- Cyber Civil Defense Summit: West
May 2026 in Arizona
Co-hosted by the Arizona Department of Homeland Security (AZDOHS) - Cyber Civil Defense Summit: East
August 2026 in New Jersey
Co-hosted by the New Jersey Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Cell (NJCCIC) - Cyber Civil Defense Summit: Central
October 2026 in Louisiana
Co-hosted by the Louisiana State Guard Cyber Reserve Team (LASG CRT) and Louisiana State University (LSU)
“The Cyber Civil Defense Summits are designed to help regional and local cyber defenders coordinate and replicate models that are working, fill gaps in sectors and geographies that lack cybersecurity services, and develop practical standards for community cyber defense,” said Ann Cleaveland, Executive Director of CLTC. “There are grassroots pockets of innovative solutions happening all around the US, and our goal is to connect and recognize them.”
These summits come at a time when individual states are leading on cybersecurity policy and strategy more than ever before. Schools, cities, nonprofits, and small utilities struggle with an onslaught of cyber attacks that take down critical human services while the federal government’s support for cybersecurity preparedness has become more limited. Taking up the gauntlet, forward-looking local leaders have passed new cybersecurity legislation, funded regional security operations centers (such as in Texas and Louisiana), and partnered with universities to conduct risk assessments for hundreds of local governments.
Building on the Roadmap to Community Cyber Defense that CLTC published in 2025, these summits will demonstrate how to scale up cyber resilience in every community, and the role of states in helping to coordinate networks of cyber support. These highly participatory, full-day summits will feature a keynote, panels, and workshop-style discussions focused on the unique regional challenges of community-wide cyber defense and how local leaders can build ecosystems to advance this critical work.
“Integrating volunteers into the NJCCIC’s operational framework significantly increases the State’s capacity to support local government entities, schools, critical infrastructure providers, and civil society organizations in preventing and responding to cybersecurity incidents,” said NJCCIC Director Michael Geraghty, a co-host of the Cyber Civil Defense Summit: East. “This program strengthens our whole-of-state approach to cyber defense and resilience.”
Participants will share best practices on regional cyber defense programs, with a spotlight on how host states champion collective defense, and examples of other successful state cyber initiatives across the area. Examples include regional security operation centers (SOCs); state civilian cyber corps; cyber volunteering programs; sector-based shared services, such as water, energy, and healthcare managed security service providers (MSSPs); and information sharing and analysis centers (ISACs). Summits will also discuss how best to create and strengthen local cyber workforce development pipelines, crucial to the success of sustainable cyberdefense.
“The Arizona Department of Homeland Security is honored to co-host the Cyber Civil Defense Summit: West with CLTC,” said Ryan Murray, AZDOHS Deputy Director and Statewide Information Security and Privacy Office. “We look forward to showcasing how Arizona is leading the way in statewide cyber resilience, ensuring our most vulnerable entities aren’t left behind, and continuing to have critical conversations about what is needed to promote and implement community-wide collective cyber defense.”
Chief Warrant Officer 3 Joshua Tannehill, Commander of the The Louisiana State Guard Cyber Reserve Team, shared, “We welcome cybersecurity professionals, public servants, and community leaders from across the region to join us in Louisiana this October. Not only will we showcase our state’s renowned hospitality and culture, but we’ll provide the opportunity to build lasting professional relationships with cybersecurity leaders and practitioners with the common objective of advancing cybersecurity resilience. As the Commander, I confidently predict that our upcoming CCDS will strengthen collaboration and advance our collective readiness.”
“As an emerging leader in cybersecurity research and workforce development, LSU is excited to partner with CLTC to host and organize the regional summit in Louisiana” said Aisha Ali-Gombe, associate professor of computer science and director of the LSU Cybersecurity Clinic, which was the first in the nation to receive National Security Agency support to secure small businesses in Louisiana and recently expanded its service footprint to include critical infrastructure.
The regional summits build on three years of successful and sold-out Cyber Civil Defense Summits held in Washington D.C. that featured hundreds of attendees and a broad range of speakers, including: state, territorial and tribal officials; leaders from healthcare, water, K-12 schools and other critical infrastructure sectors; CISA, ONCD, and the US Congress; and cybersecurity scholars and leading companies. This essential work of building networks for defense and in-person relationships between cyber leaders is made possible by generous sustaining support for CLTC’s Public Interest Cybersecurity program from Craig Newmark Philanthropies and Okta for Good.
About The UC Berkeley Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity
Established in 2015, the Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity (CLTC) is a premier research and collaboration hub at the University of California, Berkeley—the world’s #1 public university. Based in the School of Information and closely affiliated with the top-ranked Master of Information and Cybersecurity (MICS) program, CLTC works to help individuals and organizations address tomorrow’s information security challenges and amplify the upside of the digital revolution. Our mission is to help decision-makers act with foresight, train the next generation of diverse leaders, and expand who participates in digital security. We invite partners across industry, government, academia, philanthropy, and civil society to track our research, engage with our programs, and support our work at cltc.berkeley.edu.
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