Washington: President Obama unveiled a budget proposal Tuesday that earmarks $19 billion (Dh70 billion) for a wide range of cybersecurity projects, including $3.1 billion to replace out-of-date federal computer systems that are vulnerable to attack.
The investment, a more than 35 per cent increase over last year, underscores a long-delayed shift in US government priorities to recognise the constant barrage of attacks on government agencies, major companies and crucial infrastructure as a major threat to US national security.
The Obama administration has scrambled to boost cyber defences for federal agencies and crucial infrastructure as foreign-based attacks have penetrated government websites, email systems, and vast data troves containing Social Security numbers, financial information, medical records and other personal data on millions of Americans.
The money is part of Obama’s $4.1-trillion proposed budget for fiscal year 2017, which prioritises everything from the war against the Islamic State to combating climate change. The budget is all but sure to run into headwinds from the Republican-controlled Congress, which will modify the spending plan before it is ultimately passed.
Chief information security officer
The cyber strategy involves a number of initiatives at several federal agencies that build upon previously announced programs to shore up the nation’s computer networks. To oversee implementation across the federal government, the White House announced the newly created position of federal chief information security officer, to be filled within 90 days.
It will also establish the Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity, which will be comprised of cyber professionals from outside of government to help to impress upon American businesses and citizens the need for better security practices.
“The myriad cyberattacks that we have endured on both private and government networks, show our continuing vulnerability,” Representative Adam B. Schiff (Democratic from Burbank), the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said in a statement. “Additional funding for cybersecurity is essential to modernising our government’s lagging cyber-infrastructure, and to investing in the next generation of cyber talent.”
Cyber-related degree
The White House also plans to invest $62 million in programmes to address the shortage of workers specialising in cybersecurity. One initiative is a new CyberCorps Reserve programme to offer scholarships for Americans to earn a cyber-related degree and then work to protect government computers.
The most rapidly changing threat facing the US comes from rivals and adversaries deploying new cyber technologies, Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper told a Senate panel Tuesday.
Russia and China “continue to have the most sophisticated cyber programs,” Clapper told the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Iran and North Korea continue to conduct electronic espionage. Islamic State has “unprecedented online activity” for an extremist group, using the internet for theft, extortion and other crimes, he said.
Over the last year, the Obama administration stepped up efforts to bring private industry and the government together to combat cyber attacks such as those that wreaked havoc at Sony Pictures, JP Morgan Chase & Co, Target Corp. and other US companies.
