Congress bucks DHS on bid to move cyber research funding

Congress rejected a bid to shift about $90 million in cybersecurity research funding to a newly formed agency at the Department of Homeland Security in the recent funding bill.

The Science and Technology Directorate at DHS will retain that funding, which DHS sought to move to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

In their conference report, appropriators suggested S&T use $3 million of that $89 million to set up a test bed to examine possible cybersecurity solutions. It also provided $8 million for the Next Generation Cyber Infrastructure (NGCI) Apex project that provides the financial services sector with technologies and tools to protect their systems and networks.

S&T's Data Analytics Engine was funded at $5,211,337. The engine helps the agency crunch big data to help law enforcement, fraud detection, risk-based screening and other applications.

The bill also funded S&T's Silicon Valley Innovation Program at $10 million.