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, TechCrunch reported.

The funding comes from a provision tucked into President Donald Trump’s massive 940-page One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which was recently passed and signed into law on July 4. The megabill also increases overall defense spending from last 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 that the funding will go to enhancing and improving the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) that’s based in Hawaii, which is responsible for defending and promoting U.S. interests in the Pacific and Asia, including China.

International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) senior cyber adviser Marcus Willett has described offensive cyber operations as those that “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.”

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

Democrat Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, who sits on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said that the funding comes at the same time the current administration has cut other defensive cybersecurity programs—including gutting the staff and budget of the nation’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA)—which leaves the country vulnerable.

“The Trump administration has slashed funding for cybersecurity and government technology and left our country wide open to attack by foreign hackers,” Wyden told Fast Company in a statement. “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.”