According to an Atlas VPN investigation, the US government is set to allocate $18.78 billion for cybersecurity spending in 2021.
In September 2018, the White House published the National Cyber Strategy, which provides strategic steps towards securing the government and all critical infrastructure from cyber threats.
The Department of Defense (DoD) in the Cyber Strategy report outlines the main threats that the US faces regarding cybercrime:
“Competitors deterred from engaging the United States and our allies in an armed conflict are using cyberspace operations to steal our technology, disrupt our government and commerce, challenge our democratic processes, and threaten our critical infrastructure.”
Due to these reasons, the proposed cyber defense budget amounts to $18.779 billion in 2021.
To gain insight into which agencies the US President prioritizes when proposing the cybersecurity funding, Atlas VPN analyzed 2020 and 2021 government cybersecurity budget requests.
In the following analysis, years referenced for budget data are fiscal years unless otherwise noted. Also, due to some activities’ sensitive nature, the amount does not represent the entire cyber budget.
In 2021, the Department of Defense requested the most funding for cybersecurity purposes by far, with $9.85 billion. Meaning, the DoD digital security budget amounts to over 52% of the whole federal cybersecurity spend.
These funds aim to support the Pentagon’s efforts to defend against cyberattacks against US forces. Also, the US forces need to develop abilities to conduct cyber warfare against existing and potential enemies.
Compared to 2020, the DoD cybersecurity funding decreased by 2.27%.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) cybersecurity budget is a distant second at $2.6 billion. This sum would comprise 13.87% of the total requested budget.
DHS’s main priority is to protect the federal government’s digital infrastructure against cyber intrusions. In 2021, the DHS requests $30 million more funding than they did in 2020, which is a 1.17% increase.
