Agencies' programs provide roadmap for federal cybersecurity R&D strategic plan

The National Science & Technology Council on August 14 published a cybersecurity research and development (R&D) roadmap, detailing key programs planned by federal agencies to meet the objectives of a federal cybersecurity strategic plan issued in 2019.

The Fiscal Year 2021 Federal Cybersecurity R&D Strategic Plan Implementation Roadmap, published as a supplement to the president's FY2021 budget, provides details on how agencies intend to implement the Federal Cybersecurity R&D Strategic Plan that was issued in 2019.

Agency members of the Cybersecurity and Information Assurance Interagency Working Group (CSIA IWG) provided information about programs they have planned that will address one or more of the four defensive elements and/or the five priority areas mentioned in the 2019 Strategic Plan. The Department of Defense accounts for many of the CSIA agencies, but the list also includes the Department of Homeland Security, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the National Science Foundation, and the National Security Agency.

The four defensive elements include the ability to deter malicious cyber activities; protect components, systems, users, and critical infrastructure from cyber threats; detect potential threats before they are implemented; and respond to attacks on cybersecurity.

The five priority areas include artificial intelligence (AI), quantum information science (QIS), trustworthy distributed digital infrastructure (TDDI), privacy, and secure hardware and software technology.

The roadmap puts extra emphasis on advancing and securing the Industries of the Future, specifically as it pertains to AI, QIS, and the advanced communications networking (including fifth-generation/5G) technologies of the TDDI.

Read more: https://www.nitrd.gov/pubs/FY2021-Cybersecurity-RD-Roadmap.pdf