In October 2021, Department of Justice (DOJ) Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco announced the creation of the new Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative. With cybersecurity attacks and data breaches at an all-time high, the initiative will crack down on government contractors and grant recipients’ security practices in order to limit future cybersecurity incidents. The DOJ will utilize the False Claims Act to force organizations who work with the government to be more forthcoming about cybersecurity incidents.
“For too long, companies have chosen silence under the mistaken belief that it is less risky to hide a breach than to bring it forward and to report it,” said Deputy Attorney General Monaco in a DOJ press release. “We are announcing today that we will use our civil enforcement tools to pursue companies, those who are government contractors who receive federal funds, when they fail to follow required cybersecurity standards—because we know that puts all of us at risk. This is a tool that we have to ensure that taxpayer dollars are used appropriately and guard the public fisc and public trust.”
Now that the new initiative is in place, many organizations and…
