Is the Government Paying Too Much for Security? - Twenty-Four Seven Security

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February 05, 2008
Is the Government Paying Too Much for Security?

Caught an interesting post by George Hulme over at Information Week concerning the government's plan to spend $30 billion dollars over the next seven years upgrading the security of US communication networks.

That number may have just passed by in another blur of our government dropping another billion here or there, that's a lot of clams. To put it into perspective, the Bush administration has already earmarked $6 billion for 2008, while Infonetics Research estimated the entire worldwide network security appliance and software market to have reached $5 billion in 2007.

While it's certainly good news the Bush administration is finally putting dollars towards their promises of better security, we're talking about more than doubling the industry. What could they be thinking?

I can imagine the pitch asking for funding from the National Security Adviser (or maybe they go straight to the defense secretary), probably mentioning the amount of money spent everyday on defense, and everyday in Iraq, then concluding that, well, the Internet is now the place where the whole world gathers everyday, thus it is bound to be the next battleground.

But the Bush administration has not said what they plan to spend it on, saying that would only weaken their efforts. As Hulme says in his blog, "I thought security-by-obscurity went out of fashion a few years ago." I'm sure there will be more details ahead, but until the government fills in more of the blanks, it's hard no to think this is going to end up being another big government boondoggle.