Obama Proposes 35% Budget Increase and New CISO to Boost Cybersecurity
2015 was an unprecedented cyber security wake-up call to federal government agencies culminating in the catastrophic and long-undetected breach at the OPM, which compromised over 21 million background check records. The barrage of attacks has since been relentless culminating most recently with a Department of Justice breach which leaked contact information for thousands of FBI and Homeland Security personnel.
In an effort to address these threats, writing in a Wall Street Journal op-ed published on Tuesday, February 9th, President Obama announced a proposal to sharply increase spending for cybersecurity to bring the total 2017 budget to $19 billion. The increase of 35% will include $3.1 billion for technology modernization across several federal agencies.
“The federal government—which is obligated to protect the information provided to it by the American people—has a unique responsibility to lead. But the fact is we still don’t have in place all the tools we need, including ones many businesses rely on every day,” wrote Obama.
The Cybersecurity National Action Plan, will address both short-and long-term threats:
“It is no secret that too often government IT is like an Atari game in an Xbox world. The Social Security Administration uses systems and code from the 1960s. No successful business could operate this way.”
In addition, the President announced the creation of a new federal position, the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) which it hopes to fill in the next 60-90 days. The plan also includes efforts to attract and build “corps of cyber professionals” with incentives for Silicon Valley and other private sector talent.
The government will also grow its partnerships with the private sector. A new cybersecurity Center of Excellence will bring together experts to research and develop cutting-edge technologies and a national testing lab will companies can test systems under simulated attacks.
The President also announced a new public awareness campaign to encourage Americans to move beyond passwords and add extra layers of security like fingerprint or codes sent to cellphones.
Finally, for the long-term a bipartisan Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity will be established encompassing business and technology thinkers from outside government to recommend cyber strategies.
The budget proposals, of course, must be approved by Congress. Watch this space.
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