DailyPost 2161
US CYBER SECURITY BUDGET
Threat perceptions can define the security budget and at times there are clear lines of thinking when comes to conventional security. The age-old expertise, experience and acumen goes in the with already aligned policy and why not, it is a proven one. Cyber security is still a new activity, but given the worldwide situation it is desperately looking for funds. In business enterprises even in the IT ones, you need a clear-cut management buy in, to find financial resources for cyber security out of the overall financial kitty. In a different way, it is the same case in the government too, their buy in for the cyber security cause is a must, otherwise sufficient funds will never to deployed for this purpose.
Some events / incidents / hacks tilt the balance in its favour. Of the various spending bills for the 2023 financial year, one stands out. Collectively, the bills making their way through the house allocate a staggering $15.6 billion to cyber security spending. The increased budget allocations for cyber security are mostly tied to a White House directive of March 21, 2022, which stressed the need for improved cyber defenses, in the backdrop of high-profile security incidents such as the last year’s attack on Colonial Pipelines. This attack caused fuel shortages along the east coast. The statement also directed to the private sector businesses to shore up their defenses as per the CISA guidelines.
The lion’s share of the spending would go to Dept. of Defense, $11.2 billion and nearly $3 billion would go to Cyber Security and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). What would infusion of this amount of money mean to the IT industry? 2023 would be good business for IT companies who are authorized to do business with the govt. They would need to hire additional resources to meet the sudden demand for products and services. This nature of spending for sure would drive innovation. The cloud companies would be ability to release new features and capabilities much more rapidly that what was possible in the past. The iterative loop of innovation would get triggered. Developing new tools and capabilities are a must to stay ahead of the cybercriminals and competitors alike.
Cloud services and security products are bound to take an exponential leap. The ability to invest more heavily in product development and security research is likely to happen. CISA will be able to qualitatively improve on cyber security guidance and recommendations as these are the products of research. The increased funding will allow CISA to engage in even more research, ultimately positioning it to produce better recommendations. Cyber security happens to be US’s number security threat and extension of the world, this large budgetary support will provide a model for other countries to follow suit. It would all help in creating a more cyber secure world.
WE HAVE TO REALISE THAT CYBER SECURITY IS A CAPITAL INTENSIVE GAME TECH GAME AND NEEDS TO BE HANDLED ACCORDINGLY.
Sanjay Sahay