Defense Department to Spend $1 Billion on ‘Offensive Cyber Operations’

The report cited a provision in the One Big Beautiful Bill, which President Donald Trump signed into law July 4. The bill does not detail what the operations would be or what tools or software would qualify.

The money will be earmarked to improve the capabilities of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, which operates in the Asia-Pacific region, the report said. The increased spending comes as the same legislation reduced funding for the U.S. cyber defense budget.

Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said the provision came as the Trump administration reduced funding for defensive cybersecurity programs, according to the report.

“The Trump administration has slashed funding for cybersecurity and government technology and left our country wide open to attack by foreign hackers,” Wyden said, per the report. “Vastly expanding U.S. government hacking is going to invite retaliation — not just against federal agencies, but also rural hospitals, local governments and private companies who don’t stand a chance against nation-state hackers.”

Offensive cyber operations can include a range of targeted hacks on U.S. adversaries, the report said. They can be zero-day exploits — unknown flaws in software that let their operators hack a target’s device — or the use of spyware. These operations can also cover day-to-day components to support those efforts, like establishing the infrastructure needed to carry out cyberattacks.

In other cybersecurity news, PYMNTS wrote Monday (July 14) about a security issue facing enterprises as they employ tools adopted outside the traditional oversight of their IT department.

AI-driven tools are increasingly being implemented by HR, marketing and logistics teams, but they are rarely scrutinized.

“In 2021, there were 400 data breach lawsuits filed,” Philip Yannella, co-chair of the privacy, security and data protection practice at Blank Rome, told PYMNTS in May. “Last year, there were over 2,000.”

“Data breaches are always the biggest danger, particularly for financial institutions,” he added. “… We’re going to go through a period where we see more breaches — potentially more expensive breaches — until companies can get their arms around how to deal with these AI threats.”