Obama plans to spend $19bn to ramp up cybersecurity efforts

In the President’s final budget proposal, Obama earmarked $19 billion in spending in an effort to improve cybersecurity in the US.

In a time where threats exist everywhere from China, to the Middle East, and even our own back yard, the spending is much needed in order to better secure US citizens and other valuable assets.

Part of the proposal sets aside $3.1 billion to upgrade crucial systems that protect some of our most secure data. This should help to fix the same type of systems that were targeted in the OPM attacks that saw hackers walk away with 21.5 million social security numbers, background checks and other sensitive information from government employees.

The White House is expected to begin looking for a Chief Information Security Officer to give better focus to government programs. This search could actually begin today even though it’s easy to argue it should have started at least half a decade ago.

➤ Obama’s Last Budget, and Last Budget Battle With Congress [New York Times via Engadget]