Cybersecurity spending not at risk in election
A new study says DHS is likely to get money to continue cybersecurity programs, no matter who winds up in the White House, because the threat is too big to ignore.
WHAT: Govini's outlook for 2017 DHS spending
WHY: The priorities of a new administration will have an impact on the direction of federal spending, but cybersecurity is likely to keep seeing funding increases, no matter who wins the election, according to an analysis by Govini.
"The flood of cybersecurity spending will continue under either a Trump or Clinton presidency," said a new Govini study on DHS' fiscal 2017 outlook.
The agency's National Protection & Programs Directorate, Govini said, is set to sharpen it cybersecurity focus in the coming fiscal year. It has budgeted $471 million for the National Cybersecurity Protection System, its intrusion detection system that shares information across civilian agencies.
DHS also budgeted almost $274 million to speed up all three phases of its Continuous Diagnostics and Monitoring program during the period, as well as $283 million to develop analysis for critical infrastructure threat situational awareness and $211 million to support the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center.
That kind of spending, said the study, will likely continue under either administration because the stakes are too high not to. The rise of state-backed actors intent on breaking into government and private networks is "simply far too large to ignore," Govini said.
Overall, DHS is leveraging many technologies to modernize, increase mission relevancy and squeeze out cost-efficiencies across its components. Although each of the agency's 22 components has its own interpretation of those objectives, the report noted, each wants to leverage technologies like mobile, the Internet of Things, data analytics, and cybersecurity to address them.
Click here to download the study.