The US Department of Justice is requesting $ 70 million for cybersecurity in its 2020 draft budget. The increase in funding was announced on Tuesday by the Minister of Justice, US Attorney General William Barr at a meeting of a House Appropriations subcommittee.
The context
Recently, FBI director Christopher Wray said that the biggest threat to US cybersecurity comes from Beijing. According to Wray, China uses every conceivable method to get data from American services: from implementing special spy microchips into Huawei phones or using Chinese students studying in the US to get the details on computer servers.
The Atlantic Council believes that the growing threats require increased security measures. Washington is already spending significant resources on developing military capabilities, but the States additional cyber-tools for both countering threats and operational uses, analysts emphasize.
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According to the Audit Chamber and the US Department of Defense, current cybersecurity systems are vulnerable. The report notes that their weakness was recently demonstrated by “successful” cyber attacks allegedly carried out by Russia, China, Iran and North Korea.
A report by the Director of National Intelligence of the United States, Daniel Coats, prepared for the US Senate, describes the threat China and Russia pose to the country. At the same time, the document states that Beijing and Moscow have increased cooperation with each other and are allegedly developing their potential for influence in cyberspace.
In March, specialists of the American company FireEye discovered a cyber espionage operation that had been carried out for 5 years. It was reported that a hacker group called ART40, which has been supported by the Chinese government for many years, attacked networks of defense industry companies in order to steal data that could help modernize Chinese military technology.
American cyber engineers managed to trace the “route” of the data breaches, all of which lead to the waters of the Chinese and Yellow Seas. Recall that earlier, the private American company FireEye, which specializes in computer security, issued a statement that hackers associated with the Russian Federation were involved in the use of the malicious software Triton, which had been used in cyber attacks.
The statements made by the United States regarding Russian and Chinese cyberattacks might serve to justify aggressive international defense measures such as the deployment of additional missile defense systems.
Regarding the Russian Federation, researchers mention a cyber attack allegedly carried on the servers of the US Democratic Party in 2016, as well as the spread of the virus NotPetya, which led to losses of hundreds of millions of dollars. Once again, analysts say that both operations were carried out “under the leadership of Moscow,” without citing any evidence.
In 2018, Congress allocated $ 380 million to secure election procedures. US state officials plan to spend this money on purchasing new equipment and new cybersecurity programs. Of the $ 380 million allocated by Congress, $ 102.6 million will go to purchase equipment and $ 134.2 million to upgrade programs. The remaining funds, according to the commission, will be spent on updating the database of registered voters and other needs.
The forecast
On April 30, the United States Senate will hold a meeting on cybersecurity-related to the so-called “Internet of Things.” According to the Senate’s website, the hearing will be led by Dan Sullivan, head of the cybersecurity subcommittee.
The agenda of the meeting includes a discussion about the importance of 5G network security for connected devices and how the federal government, the business community and consumers can promote and support the increased cybersecurity of the “Internet of things.”