Obama Proposes $14 Billion Cybersecurity Budget for Fiscal Year 2016

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This article originally appeared at the WHIR

US President Barack Obama has proposed a $3.99 trillion budget for fiscal year 2016 on Monday that includes $14 billion for boosting cybersecurity programs in the country.

The cybersecurity budget for fiscal year 2016 is an increase of nearly $1 billion from last year, according to a report by The Hill.

“No system is immune to infiltration by those seeking to steal commercial or Government information and property or perpetrate malicious and disruptive activity,” a summary from the fact sheet on the fiscal year 2016 budget said. “The Budget provides $14 billion to support cybersecurity efforts across the Government to strengthen US cybersecurity defenses and make cyberspace more secure, allowing the Government to more rapidly protect American citizens, systems, and information from cyber threats.”

The proposed cybersecurity budget will include “key investments” in areas such as “continuous diagnostics and monitoring of federal systems, the EINSTEIN intrusion detection and prevention system, and government-wide testing and incident response training to mitigate the impact of evolving cyber threats.”

The budget also seeks to improve the government’s information sharing capabilities with the private sector, including $227 million for construction of a civilian cyber campus to better share information on cyber threats.

The government has looked to the private sector to improve its digital infrastructure recently. In 2014, the administration launched the pilot of the US Digital Service team, led by Mikey Dickerson, to bring private sector best practices to the public sector. The fiscal year 2016 budget includes $105 million to “scale and institutionalize this approach and create digital services teams in 25 key agencies.”

At one of the State of the Union Address previews, Obama announced his intention to introduce new legislation to more easily prosecute cyber criminals and promote the flow of information on cyber threats between the public and private sectors.

The government was involved in several cybersecurity investigations with the private sector this past year, including hacks against major US banks and Sony Pictures Entertainment.

The fiscal year 2016 budget includes investments in cyber research and development, and plans to improve capabilities in responding to cyberattacks after they have already occurred.

As cyberthreats against the US and private companies continue to grow in size and complexity, the budget also focuses on job training in the cybersecurity sector. According to the administration, the budget will provide $16 billion over 10 years to double the number of workers receiving training in industries expected to experience significant growth, including IT and cybersecurity.

This article originally appeared at: http://www.thewhir.com/web-hosting-news/obama-proposes-14-billion-cybersecurity-budget-fiscal-year-2016