The Trump administration, through the Department of Defense, plans to spend $ 1 billion Over the next four years on what it calls “offensive cyber operations.”
The supply in Trump’s landmark One big beautiful bill Do not say what these “offensive cyber operations”, or what specific tools or programs would qualify. The budget notices that the money will go to improve and improve the capabilities of the US Indian Pacific Command, which operates in the Asia-Pacific region, including China, the largest geopolitical rival in the United States.
The move to spend a billion in Cyber comes because the recently passed law has also diminished a billion The US Cyber Budget Budget BudgetIn a time when the United States faces cyber threats from China.
Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat and a longtime member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the disposition is also coming because the Trump administration has cut funding for defense cyber security programs, including Gutting the US cybersecurity agency CISA And its budget. The courts were only partially rolled back After a federal court ruled the shot of 130 employees illegal.
“The Trump administration has reduced funding for cybersecurity and government technology and left our country wide open to attack foreign hackers,” Wyden said in an email statement to Techcrunch. “A widely expanding US government hacking will invite retaliation-not only against federal agencies, but also rural hospitals, local governments and private companies that do not have a chance against hackers of nation-states.”
Offensive Cyber Operations can describe a wide range of targeted hacks against US opponents that include the use of zero-day Explosions – unknown defects in programs that give their operators the ability to hack into the device’s device – or the deployment of espionage that can be used to steal human data.
But these operations may also include more daily components needed to support these operations, such as setting up the infrastructure needed to carry out cyber attacks, collection of intelligence, such as collecting or buying online traffic (called “Netflow”), and more.
White House spokesmen and the Defense Department acknowledged receipt, but did not respond to a request for comment.
