Security News > 2020 > June > Examining the US Cyber Budget

Jason Healey takes a detailed look at the US federal cybersecurity budget and reaches an important conclusion: the US keeps saying that we need to prioritize defense, but in fact we prioritize attack.

The Defense Department's cyber-related budget is nearly 25 percent higher than the total going to all civilian departments, including the departments of Homeland Security, Treasury and Energy, which not only have to defend their own critical systems but also partner with critical infrastructure to help secure the energy, finance, transportation and health sectors.

Just the increased funding to Defense was 30 percent higher than the total Homeland Security budget to improve the security of federal networks.

The cyber operations budget is higher than the budgets for the CISA, the FBI and the Department of Justice's National Security Division combined.

The White House and National Cyber Strategy emphasize the need to protect the American people and our way of life, yet the budget does not reflect those values.

News URL

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2020/06/examining_the_u.html