“Cyber attacks on U.S. weapons programs and manufacturers are a ‘pervasive’ problem that requires greater attention, the top U.S. arms buyer said Thursday, saying that he would add cybersecurity to the Pentagon’s guidelines for buying weapons,” Reuters reports.  

Said Defense Undersecretary Frank Kendall: “It’s about the security of our weapons systems themselves and everything that touches them. It’s a pervasive problem and I think we have to pay a lot more attention to it.”  

“Kendall said he planned to add cybersecurity to the next phase of his ‘better buying power’ initiative, and was also working on a special section on cybersecurity requirements to be added to the Pentagon’s guidelines for buying weapons. President Barack Obama’s fiscal 2016 budget proposal requested $14 billion for cybersecurity efforts to better protect federal and private networks from hacking threats, including $5.5 billion for the Pentagon alone.”