Defense Department to spend $1 billion on ‘offensive’ hacking: What that means—and the major risk involved

The Department of Defense plans to spend $1 billion on “offensive cyber operations” over the next four years, Tech Crunch reported.

The funding comes from a provision tucked into President Donald Trump’s massive 940-page One Big Beautiful Bill, which was recently passed and signed into law on July 4. The mega bill also increases overall defense spending from lasy year’s fiscal 2024 levels of $873 billion, or 12.9% of the federal budget, per USAFacts a nonprofit initiative to make government data more understandable.

According to the report, the bill does not specify what the “offensive cyber operations” are, or what software would qualify for funding; however, it does stipulate the funding will go to enhancing and improving the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM), based in Hawaii, which is the responsible for defending and promting U.S. interests in the Pacific and Asia, including China.

International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), senior cyber advisor Marcus Willet has described offensive cyber operations as those which “most often entail influencing, misleading or otherwise cognitively affecting a competitor or adversary by, for example, planting false information. But they can also be used for disablement.”

Adding,”Offensive cyber operations are of increasing significance in international affairs and bring with them a range of strategic risks.”  

Democrat Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, who sits on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence said that the funding comes as the same time the Trump administration has cut other defensive cybersecurity programs—including slashing the staff and budget for the the U.S. cybersecurity agency CISA—which Wyden said has “left our country wide open to attack by foreign hackers,” according to 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,” Wyden told TechCrunch.

Fast Company has reached out to Senator Wyden for additional comment.