BY JEFF CHUDZINSKINorth Country This Week

CANTON -- St. Lawrence County has entered into an agreement with the New York State Office of Information Technology Services and New York State Division of Homeland Security Services to combat cyber threats.

As part of the program, St. Lawrence County will receive resources from the various agencies and private entities involved to ensure cyber threats are effectively combatted and infrastructure remains intact and safeguarded, officials said.

According to county officials, New York established a Joint Security Operations Center (JSOC) to "serve as an around-the-clock operational center for the purpose of sharing cyber threat information " that is positioned as a sharing hub to integrate information and facilitate collaboration between each entity.

The New York Security Operations Center Initiative (NY SOC) is a one-of-a-kind approach between state and local governments to enhance cybersecurity and risk management capabilities by providing participants with "actionable information to prevent, detect, respond to, and recover from cyberattacks," officials wrote in the resolution.

As part of the program, the state Department of Homeland Security is required to work with federal, state, local and private entities to protect critical infrastructure of the state from cyber threats, including the power grid and other municipal services, among others.

Among the entities that DHS works with, the state IT Department plays a role in protecting the cybersecurity infrastructure of the state, officials said.

The department does so "by employing a multi-faceted approach that includes coordinating policies, standards and programs on cybersecurity across the State, partnering with State agencies and law enforcement, monitoring the technology assets of the State and responding to abnormalities and threats to their systems," officials wrote.

Participating entities will also provide the state with confidential information or cyber information and logging data to contribute to "an unprecedented level of visibility into potential threats across the State and increase efficiency in detecting and responding to cybersecurity events and incidents," county officials said.

The state will then analyze, integrate and disseminate the critical information to all participating entities to improve the collective cybersecurity and risk management capabilities of the state, officials said.

Officials say the program will prove crucial to protecting the vital infrastructure of municipalities, counties and the state as a whole.