It’s Cybersecurity Awareness Month: What To Know As We Enter FY25

This month marks the 20th anniversary of the declaration of “Cybersecurity Awareness Month,” originally created by the Department of Homeland Security and the National Cyber Security Alliance in 2004. Since then, we’ve seen vast amounts of change and innovation in the sector. We’ve also seen continually updated legislation, new technology and opportunities for IT companies to penetrate the market as federal agencies continue to watch threats evolve. 

National Cybersecurity Strategy Implementation Plan

The federal government has continued to update its strategic directives, as part of its National Cybersecurity Strategy Implementation Plan (NCSIP). The goal of NCSIP is to provide critical implementation actions to improve the U.S. national cybersecurity posture. The latest 2024 guide follows on the heels of the prior year’s release, with several key updates. Here’s what you should know as we enter into FY25:

The latest FY25 budget has requested nearly $13 billion for cybersecurity-related needs. That includes both products and services in the space; a lot to go around. So many of those needs will fall in line with the federal government’s latest strategy that has prioritized combating nation-state cyber threats and vastly improving information sharing capabilities across agencies. The latest NCSIP from 2024 also emphasizes an additional 31 initiatives to the original 27 laid out in 2023, categorized along the following five pillars:

  1. Defend critical infrastructure, including healthcare and education facilities, as well as wastewater systems.
  2. Disrupt and dismantle threat actors; encourage a whole of society approach to prevent, deter and disrupt cyber-crime.
  3. Shape market forces to drive security and resilience.
  4. Invest in a resilient future.
  5. Forge international partnerships to pursue shared goals.

Report on the Cybersecurity Posture of the US

The NCSIP this year was accompanied by the Report on the Cybersecurity Posture of the US; the first of its kind released in 2024. It lays out current cyber challenges, efforts to thwart attacks, as well as trends in the market.

Of note is the inclusion of AI as a top trend in mitigating cybersecurity risk. According to the Report, “New cyber defense tools that integrate AI could eventually enable cyber defenders to more efficiently detect anomalous network traffic and other adversary activity, coordinate the defense of complex systems and networks, and augment a cybersecurity workforce that is already stretched thin.”

AI and Cybersecurity

For IT companies in the cybersecurity space, offering AI-centric tools to identify, and more importantly prevent attacks in the first place, will put you at the top of the list for federal officials. Some of the most relevant products and solutions government agencies will be looking for well into FY25 include automated security audit capabilities, AI authentication, intrusion detection and prevention, endpoint detection and response, distributed storage, as well as virtual machines and containerized environments.

AI has a close, symbiotic relationship with cybersecurity. And while artificial intelligence is certainly enjoying the spotlight more than ever, cybersecurity awareness, often enhanced by AI tools and technologies, should remain top of mind and integral to meeting the federal government’s needs long after October ends.

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About the Author:
Susanna Patten is a senior manager on the TD SYNNEX Public Sector Market Insights team covering tech trends across the Public Sector. Susanna has over 13 years of experience in public sector IT procurement. Her responsibilities at TD SYNNEX Public Sector include driving market intelligence asset production, ensuring the quality and relevance of deliverables from the Market Insights team, and aligning these insights with sales opportunities.