U.S. military cyber spending—offensive and defensive capabilities, worker development, and more—will get a boost from the giant Republican policy-and-spending law signed over the weekend.
The law establishes a $250 million pool for AI-related efforts at U.S. Cyber Command; a $90 million pool for cybersecurity support “for non-traditional contractors”; $20 million for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency; and $1 million for offensive cyber capabilities at U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, whose territory includes China, Russia, and North Korea.
Meanwhile, the Coast Guard, a military service primarily managed by the Department of Homeland Security, would get $2.2 billion for cyber asset upkeep. It would also get $170 million for cyber-related maritime-domain-awareness assets: the radars, drones, patrol boats and sensors that help the Guard see what’s happening in U.S. waters.
But the act also enacts deep cuts to Medicaid that will slow rural healthcare providers from hardening much-needed defenses against hackers, health associations and groups have warned.
“Reductions in Medicaid funding of this magnitude would likely accelerate rural hospital closures and reduce access to care for rural residents, exacerbating economic hardship in communities where hospitals are major employers,” according to a recent National Rural Health Association blog post.
The U.S. has made efforts to shore up hospital cyberdefenses through voluntary investments made available under the previous administration. Healthcare infrastructure is a treasure trove for cyber thieves because it often contains digital repositories of sensitive patient information that, if pilfered, can be sold to other criminal operatives for use in extortion or fraud schemes.
