Cybersecurity Costs to Rise $800 million in New US Budget

Cybersecurity will get $800 million extra from the new US budget, as President Barack Obama announced a greater need to protect American computers from attacks, according to Reuters.

Anti-hacking efforts will rise to $4.7 billion, while the Pentagon`s budget will be cut by $3.9 billion. Money will be mainly invested in “reconnaissance, surveillance, development, maintenance and analysis.” In this way, the Pentagon plans to expand its Cyber Command group, a team of military hackers.

“The budget includes increases and improvements to a full range of cyberspace activities,” the Obama administration told Reuters. The state representatives give no further details about their classified activities.

Investments will mainly focus on cyber threats from China, Iran and Russia. The government believes a dedicated budget can also protect more private-sector computer networks.

The Department of Homeland Security would also spend $44 million more on a government-wide information-sharing effort, though its budget will be reduced with 1.5 percent.

The budget proposal was made for the 2014 fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1. Last month, intelligence officials said cyber-attacks and cyber-espionage have passed “traditional” terrorism to become the top security threats of the US.

At the beginning of April, more than 14,000 mobile devices of the US Military Academy and the US Army Corps of Engineers were found lacking proper security policies. Though they had access to sensitive military networks and data, the phones had no management software installed, and no remote wipe function in case they were lost or stolen.