President Obama seeks 35 percent hike in federal cyber budget to boost defense

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President Barack Obama is seeking a 35 percent hike in cybersecurity funding in his final budget to boost the capability of the federal government to defend itself against cyberattacks. The proposed $19 billion request, which represents one of the largest increases ever sought in this area, comes as Congress and the public have witnessed an alarming series of intrusions in recent years against targets ranging from Target and Sony to the Pentagon and the Office of Personnel Management.

The proposal, announced Feb 9 with the President’s 2017 budget request, is part of a larger package of initiatives the White House is calling the cybersecurity national action plan. “[The plan] is intended to go after the underlying causes of our cybersecurity challenges, not at the symptoms,” said Michael Daniel, the White House cybersecurity coordinator. The money would go toward replacing aging — in some cases decades-old — computer systems with new machines and software, hiring additional skilled personnel, and increasing capabilities at the Pentagon’s Cyber Command and the FBI as well as in civilian agencies such as OPM and the Department of Veterans Affairs, officials said. Some portion of the money will go to the classified cyber budget for intelligence agencies such as the National Security Agency and the CIA, they said. About $3.1 billion of the pot will go to modernizing computer systems and to hire a new federal chief information security officer to direct these changes across the government.


President Obama seeks 35 percent hike in federal cyber budget to boost defense President Obama's 2017 Budget Boosts Cyber Spending by 35 Percent, Adds Federal CISO (nextgov)