The President has said that cybersecurity is one of the most important challenges we face as a Nation. The 2016 Federal Cybersecurity Research and Development Strategic Plan creates the science and technology to ensure America’s prosperity, national security in cyberspace.

To make cyberspace inherently more secure, the plan challenges the cybersecurity R&D community to provide methods and tools for deterring, protecting, detecting, and adapting to malicious cyber activities. The plan defines near-, mid-, and long-term goals to guide and evaluate progress.

• Near-term: achieve science and technology (S&T) advances that counter adversaries’ asymmetrical advantages with effective and efficient risk management.
• Mid-term: reverse adversaries’ asymmetrical advantages by developing sustainably secure systems and operations.
• Long-term:  achieve S&T advances that deter malicious cyber activities, by increasing adversaries’ costs and risks, while also lowering their gains.

After providing an overview of the plan, we’ll discuss the R&D challenges and objectives therein that emphasize opportunities for the research community to improve cybersecurity.  The stated objectives provide a basis for measuring overall progress in the implementation of this plan though they do not address all areas of need and should not be considered comprehensive.

Let’s work together to make the internet more secure.