The National Center for State Courts (NCSC), with funding from the State Justice Institute (SJI), launched a national initiative to strengthen state courts readiness for cyberattacks and technical disruptions through Cybersecurity and Disaster Recovery Workshops. These regional sessions (first virtual and then in-person) bring together judges, administrators, IT leaders, and communications staff to enhance preparedness, recovery, and continuity capabilities.
The first workshop was held in September 2024, and sessions have now been completed in four of five regions nationwide. The final workshop will take place in Rhode Island in April 2026. The most recent session, hosted in St. Louis, Missouri, included participation from Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. Earlier workshops engaged participants from Alaska, Arizona, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, New Mexico, Northern Mariana Islands, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Virginia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Each workshop follows a collaborative team-based approach, bringing together a judicial officer, IT leadership, court administrator, public information officer, emergency manager, and general counsel to collaborate through structured exercises that test and strengthen cybersecurity and disaster recovery plans. As part of each workshop, participants receive education and guidance, along with a court focused workbook and template designed to help courts create or refine incident response plans found here: The 2025 Cybersecurity and Disaster Recovery Workshop Workbook.
Pictured: Matt Brandes, Data Center & Enterprise Services Manager; Patrick Brooks, Director, Information Technology Services; Rick Morrisey, Deputy State Courts Administrator; Chief Justice W. Brent Powell, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Missouri; and Natalie Wilson, Information Security Manager; from the Missouri State Courts participate in a cybersecurity tabletop exercise.
“These workshops, and especially the tabletop exercises and workbook have set the standard for effective court focused cybersecurity education.”
– Shay Cleary, NCSC
“I thought the interaction between the NCSC, CIS, and State Court agencies was compelling and highly informative.”
-Participant from post event survey
This collaborative effort between NCSC, the Center for Internet Security (CIS), and the Chief Information Technology Officers Consortium (CITOC) is helping courts nationwide improve resilience and ensure continuity of essential justice services.
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