While much of the cybersecurity community’s attention was out west at the annual RSA Conference, the Justice Department announced yet another settlement in its pursuit of contractors who falsely attest to meeting cybersecurity requirements.
DoJ announced today that Raytheon Company, RTX Corporation and Nightwing Group have agreed to pay $8.3 million to settle allegations that Raytheon violated the False Claims Act by falling short of contractually mandated cybersecurity standards.
RTX sold its cybersecurity, intelligence and services business to Nightwing in 2024. DoJ’s case centered on conduct between 2015 and 2021, prior to the acquisition.
The case is another feather in the cap for DoJ’s Civil-Cyber Fraud Initiative. Started under the Biden administration, the goal of the initiative is to enforce cybersecurity requirements that many contractors had been ignoring through the False Claims Act.
“As cyber threats continue to evolve, it is critical that defense contractors take the required steps to protect sensitive government information from bad actors,” Acting Assistant Attorney General Yaakov Roth of the Justice Department’s Civil Division said in a press release. “We will continue our efforts to hold contractors accountable when they fail to honor their DoD cybersecurity commitments.”
The government alleged Raytheon and its cyber subsidiary didn’t implement required cybersecurity controls on an internal system used to perform unclassified work on some Defense Department contracts.
The requirements at the center of the allegations are the same contractual clauses that DoD will enforce in the future under the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program. CMMC will require many contractors to obtain third-party audits of their security practices, rather than relying on self-attestation.
The settlement resolves a lawsuit brought forward by a former director of engineering with Raytheon. Under the False Claims Act, whistleblowers can sue on behalf of the government when they believe an organization submitted false claims for government funds.
The whistleblower in the case received a $1.5 million share of the settlement.
Noem says DHS will ‘protect’ cyber investments
There’s been a lot of speculation about the Trump administration’s plans for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem called for a “smaller, more nimble” CISA during her January confirmation hearing, but has said little else about plans for the agency since. Meanwhile, the cyber agency has seen hundreds of employees either resign or get laid off as part of broader cuts across DHS.
On Tuesday, Noem laid out a more expansive vision for CISA during a keynote address at the RSA Conference in San Francisco, Ca. But she still pointed back to conservatives’ contention that CISA’s efforts to combat mis- and disinformation was inappropriate.
“We need to put CISA back to focusing on its core mission,” Noem said. “They were deciding what was truth and what was not. And it’s not the job of CISA to be the ‘Ministry of Truth.’ It’s to be a cybersecurity agency that works to protect this country.”
Noem said CISA “can play a big role” in helping state and local governments, and critical infrastructure plug holes in their cyber defenses.
“It’s in our nation’s best interest to work with those states and make that a priority,” she said.
Noem acknowledged the discussion around cuts, like the elimination of CISA’s Critical Infrastructure Partnership Advisory Council, but cast it as looking toward “reforms” to bring more partners to the table.
“We are reviewing funding, we’re making adjustments,” Noem said. “We’re looking at the threats of today and the capabilities that we have, but also what you can provide. And we’re preparing for our future.”
Despite rumors of further budget and workforce cuts at CISA, Noem said the Trump administration is committed to prioritizing cybersecurity.
“We’re going to harness artificial intelligence, standardize the use of advanced encryption to further secure our systems, and we’re investing significant resources, which you will see soon in the coming days, when the president has his proposal and his budget going forward in our interactions with Congress that will ensure that America remains the global leader in technology, information and innovation,” Noem said.
“We’re going to protect those investments and realize that there’s long term benefits to our great nation,” she added. “DHS is committed to cybersecurity. I’m committed to cybersecurity, as is the president, recognizing it’s a national security imperative responsibility that rests on our shoulders, and a national defense comes through a system that continues to do its job well, but becomes even more improved and on mission every single day.”
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