October was Cybersecurity Month in Maryland and throughout the month, the state’s cybersecurity sector made headlines.

Maryland Commerce rolled out two tax credit programs designed to spur investment and growth in the cyber sector. The Cybersecurity Investment Incentive Tax Credit provides an incentive for those investing in Maryland cybersecurity companies and the Buy Maryland Cybersecurity Tax Credit incentivizes purchases of security technology and products from Maryland companies.

At Port Covington in Baltimore City, Weller Development announced plans for a cybersecurity hub on the 235-acre waterfront property. Three companies – DataTribe, a start-up studio focused on the information security sector; AllegisCyber, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm that invests in cybersecurity companies; and Evergreen Advisors, an investment bank and corporate advisory firm – will anchor the project’s first phase.

Howard County, home to a vibrant cybersecurity sector, held a ceremonial wall-breaking to jump-start construction of the Howard County Innovation Center. Cybersecurity will be a critical component of the center, across a range of technologies including artificial intelligence, machine learning, agricultural technology, and medical devices.

Attila Security landed $2.5 million in funding from DataTribe, TEDCO’s Seed Fund, and Bull City Venture Partners in Durham, N.C. Based in Fulton, Attila helps governments and enterprises protect their data from advanced cyber attacks, zero-day threats, and personal identity theft.

Cybrary, which provides free online cybersecurity training and career development tools, was featured in DC INNO. How Maryland’s Cybrary Turned a Mechanic into a Cybersecurity Analyst in 3 Months took readers through Cybrary’s unique process of training and qualifying for cyber-related jobs. Founded in 2015, Cybrary is located in Greenbelt.

In Hanover, Dragos announced a partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy to research and develop Neighborhood Keeper, a collaborative threat detection and shared intelligence program that allows users to share threat insights without sharing identifying information or sensitive data.

Fluency won Cybersecurity Breakthrough’s “Overall SOAR Platform of the Year” award this month. The competition attracted more than 3,000 nominations from more than 14 countries. Founded by McAfee veterans Chris Jordan and Kun Luo in 2013, Fluency is located in College Park.

Hughes Network Systems in Germantown introduced the HughesON Secure Connectivity Services (SCS), a secure – and affordable – firewall solution for small businesses. HughesON SCS comes complete with a plug-and-play router, continuous network management, and 24/7 backup.

In Rockville, cybersecurity startup INKY announced INKY Phish Fence, its new anti-phishing software that uses computer vision, artificial intelligence, and machine learning to detect attacks. According to INKY, nearly half of phishing emails get past traditional anti-spam filters.

Based in Bethesda, Syncurity closed on a $2 million round of funding led by TEDCO. The company, which developed technology to rapidly respond to data breach incidents, plans to use the funding to expand its market reach.

ZeroFOX launched ZeroFOX OnWatch, a managed service built on top of the ZeroFOX Platform and optimized to flag the highest priority threats. ZeroFOX OnWatch helps companies protect social media and digital platforms, the surface web, deep and dark web, and mobile app stores.

Stay tuned – there’s much more to come!