President Bush signed on Wednesday (Oct. 4) the fiscal year 2007 appropriations bill for the Department of Homeland Security. The bill provides a total of $542 million for infrastructure protection and information security, including $87 million for cybersecurity.

Earlier this year the Bush administration requested an increase of $14 million (or 17%). Unfortunately, the increase over FY’2006 is only $8 million, or %10 ($79 million budget for FY’2006.)

What message does this send to cyberterrorists, and even criminally-minded hackers? I am not sure if it is a normal practice in Congress to undercut the administration’s budget request, but even if it is, underfunding the budget for protecting a critical aspect of the nation’s economy seems unwise.