The US infrastructure bill signed into law by President Biden yesterday will provide close to $2bn for cybersecurity and related provisions.
According to Cyberscoop, the biggest piece of digital security funding in the bill is a Federal Emergency Management Agency cyber grant program, that will distribute $1bn over four years to state and local governments. A further $21m is expected to go towards the Office of the National Cyber Director to help them make key hires.
The White House claimed that the legislation – named the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act – is the ‘largest investment in the resilience of physical and natural systems in American history’ and will make the US’ communities safer and its infrastructure more resilient to the impacts of climate change and cyber-attacks.
The law will also provide $100m over four years to a pot set aside for when the Department for Homeland Security declares any significant incidents. Meanwhile, DHS’ science and technology arm would net $158m for cybersecurity research, while the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency would get $35m for sector risk management work.
Elsewhere, the US Energy Department will see the establishment of two $250m programs through the recently passed act, the first for rural and municipal utility security and a second for grid security research and development. This has been an area of particular high focus this year after the cyberattack on the Colonial Pipeline back in May.
Cyberscoop also highlighted more money could be on the way for US cybersecurity through the Build Back Better Act, which is currently still in US Congress.
The US House of Representatives recently passed two bills that are focused on improving the cybersecurity protections for small businesses in the United States.
The first bill – the Small Business Administration Cyber Awareness Act – aims to strengthen the capabilities of the SBA when it comes to handling and reporting cyber threats that impact small businesses.
The second bill – the Small Business Development Center Cyber Training Act – aims to provide small businesses with the resources required to fight cyber threats on their own and help Small Business Development Centers better assist small businesses with cybersecurity-linked issues.
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