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November 14, 2026

North Carolina Launches Free CyberCoach NC Chatbot for Small Businesses

Ten college students and a handful of Cisco engineers built this in a classroom practicum. Now North Carolina is wagering their class project can field real cybersecurity questions from a…

“Many of the 1 million small businesses in North Carolina don’t have a dedicated cybersecurity team,” Jennifer Fix, the state’s deputy chief information security officer, said in a November 6 announcement. “Now they have 24×7 support when they need it.” That support takes the shape of CyberCoach NC, a free chatbot North Carolina’s Department of Information Technology (NCDIT) built with Cisco and a team of North Carolina State University students. It’s live now at cybercoach.nc.gov/login, and it’s aimed at a very specific gap: the small business down the street that can’t afford to hire a security expert but still has to worry about phishing emails and ransomware.

At a Glance

What it is: an AI-powered chatbot that answers cybersecurity questions and walks business owners through basic protections, available around the clock.
Who can use it: any business registered in North Carolina, through a MyNCID Business account at cybercoach.nc.gov/login.
Cost: free, according to every state and university source reviewed for this story.
Built by: 10 NC State cybersecurity students in a practicum course, mentored by Cisco engineers, with NCDIT preparing it for public use.
Status: live statewide now. NC State says the tool “was unveiled Oct. 26,” while NCDIT’s own announcement, dated November 6, says it “has launched.” Neither page reconciles the two dates.

How CyberCoach NC Actually Works

NCDIT describes CyberCoach NC as “an AI-powered chatbot that translates complex cybersecurity guidance into simple, actionable steps,” covering topics from phishing prevention to incident response. A business owner logs in with a MyNCID Business account and can ask it questions in plain language instead of digging through a technical manual or a 40-page federal framework.

None of the three state and university pages reviewed name the underlying AI model or say whether it’s a generative AI system in the same vein as a general-purpose chatbot, even though both NCDIT and NC State use the term “AI-powered.” The Secretary of State’s office is named as a partner that “urged” the team to finish the project, but nothing in the record suggests it has a role in the actual sign-in process. That login runs through the state’s own MyNCID system, not a business-registration portal.

From a Class Project to a State Tool

CyberCoach NC started as classwork. Ten students in NC State’s cybersecurity practicum, working alongside Cisco engineers, designed a prototype and pitched it to NCDIT’s Enterprise Security and Risk Management Office. NCDIT then adapted it to run on state infrastructure and brought in Cisco and the Secretary of State’s office to get it ready for the public.

“Honestly, I’m not aware of anything like CyberCoach NC that has been created to walk small business owners through this process on a free, statewide basis like this,” said Laura Rodgers, director of cybersecurity practice at NC State’s Secure Computing Institute.

Rodgers also put her finger on who the tool is really for: “Many small business owners lack the expertise and resources to implement cybersecurity programs on their own.” That’s the same gap a few other states and companies have been trying to close lately. Google’s FairWind program, for instance, is offering AI tools to independent cyber defenders, and Anthropic recently put $15 million behind a cyber defense program aimed at state, local, tribal and territorial governments rather than businesses directly. CyberCoach NC is narrower than either, built for one state’s small businesses specifically, and free to the people using it rather than to the agencies defending against attacks.

Where the Evidence Stops

The launch date doesn’t line up. NC State’s November 11 article says the tool “was unveiled Oct. 26.” NCDIT’s own November 6 announcement says it “has launched,” with no date given. Neither source explains the gap.
Every number comes from the state or the university. The “1 million” small-business figure, the 10-student team, and the claim that the tool is accurate all trace back to NCDIT and NC State. No independent evaluation or outside audit of CyberCoach NC’s answers was named in any source reviewed.
Usage isn’t measured yet. “1 million” describes who’s eligible to use CyberCoach NC, not how many businesses actually have. No adoption numbers were published.
Privacy and data handling aren’t addressed. None of the state or university pages say what happens to the questions a business types in, or whether conversations are reviewed or stored.
It’s not clear what happens when the bot can’t help. No source says whether a business gets routed to a human expert if its problem is more serious than general guidance can fix.

Why It Matters to You

If you run a small business registered in North Carolina, this is available to you right now, for free, at cybercoach.nc.gov/login. You don’t need an IT department or a consultant on retainer to get basic, specific answers about phishing, passwords, or what to do if you suspect a breach. Rodgers said the benefit is greatest for owners who have no in-house cybersecurity expertise at all, which describes most small businesses. It won’t replace a dedicated security team for a business handling sensitive customer data at scale, and the state hasn’t said whether a human expert is available if your situation needs more than the chatbot can offer. But for a shop owner who has never had anywhere to ask these questions, “something” beats “nothing.”

Frequently Asked Questions

Who can actually use CyberCoach NC?

Any business registered in North Carolina. You’ll need a MyNCID Business account to log in at cybercoach.nc.gov/login; the tool doesn’t require a dedicated IT staffer or cybersecurity background to use.

Does it cost anything?

No. NCDIT, NC State, and the state’s own CyberCoach NC resource page all describe it as free, with no fees or subscription mentioned anywhere in the public announcements.

What if my business is outside North Carolina?

CyberCoach NC is built for businesses registered in North Carolina and tied to the state’s MyNCID system. Nothing in the public announcements extends it to businesses registered elsewhere.

North Carolina is betting that a free chatbot, built in a university classroom, can do something closer to triage than full-service defense for a million small businesses. Whether that holds up once more owners start typing in real, messy problems, not just the test questions a handful of beta users tried, is the question worth watching. If you run a small business in the state, the cheapest way to find out is to log in and ask it something.