Cybersecurity and Data Breaches

Swiss Automation is the Latest to Settle False Claims Act Allegations of Cybersecurity Fraud

By the Constantine Cannon Whistleblower Team Last Friday (December 5), the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that Illinois-based Swiss Automation Inc. agreed to pay roughly $420,000 to settle allegations it violated the False Claims Act by failing to provide proper cybersecurity protections for its machine parts drawings for Department of Defense (DOD) prime contractors.[1]  The settlement is just the latest...

Constantine Cannon Partner Gordon Schnell Quoted in Bloomberg Law on Recent Wave of False Claims Act Cybersecurity Fraud Settlements

By the Constantine Cannon Whistleblower Team On Monday (October 20), Bloomberg Law quoted Constantine Cannon whistleblower partner Gordon Schnell in its piece on the slew of False Claims Act settlements the Department of Justice (DOJ) has secured this year involving cybersecurity fraud.¹ We have posted frequently on this topic, most recently in early October in And Yet Another Whistleblower-Originated False...

And Yet Another Whistleblower-Originated False Claims Act Cybersecurity Fraud Settlement

By the Constantine Cannon Whistleblower Team On Tuesday (September 30), the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced that Georgia Tech Research Corporation has agreed to pay $875,000 to settle charges of violating the False Claims Act by failing to comply with the cybersecurity requirements of certain Department of Defense (DoD) contracts.¹  It is just the latest in a string of recent False Claims Act settlements...

DOJ Continues False Claims Act Crusade Against Cybersecurity Violations: More Cybersecurity Whistleblowers Wanted

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/shorts/psbWiTnAtTU[/embed] By the Constantine Cannon Whistleblower Team Last Thursday (July 31), the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the settlement of two False Claims Act cases involving cybersecurity fraud.  The first, against California-based Illumina Inc., involved allegations the company sold federal agencies certain genomic sequencing systems with cybersecurity...

Trump Administration Signals Strong Commitment to Stopping Cybersecurity Fraud

By the Constantine Cannon Whistleblower Team On May 1, the Department of Justice (DOJ) settled its latest cybersecurity enforcement action, showing the Government’s continued commitment to using the False Claims Act to go after cybersecurity fraud.  Under the settlement, RTX subsidiary Raytheon Company and Nightwing Group agreed to pay $8.4 million to settle charges of violating key cybersecurity requirements in...

Cybersecurity 101: What Can We Learn from the White House’s Signal Slip Up and MORSECORP’s $4M+ False Claims Act Settlement

If the White House’s faux pax using Signal last week wasn’t enough of a wakeup call for the lax cybersecurity folks out there, we don’t know what is. Unless you’re off the grid, you’ve likely already been bombarded with news about The Atlantic’s journalist who was added to a government group chat and received confidential information about attack plans. As more communications and transactions naturally...

DOJ Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Credits Whistleblowers, Identifies 2024 Priorities

DOJ Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian Boynton recently spoke at the 2024 Federal Bar Association’s Qui Tam Conference.  Here are a few key takeaways from his remarks, which can be found here.

1. Crediting Whistleblowers. Boynton lauded whistleblowers, calling them “a critical source of [DOJ’s] enforcement efforts,” and he thanked them and their counsel for their efforts, adding that the DOJ...

Why Cybersecurity Whistleblowers Should Be Treated as Friends, Not Foes

A very insightful article in Security Week explains the rise of cybersecurity whistleblowers and why corporations would be wise to welcome them with open arms.  It may seem counterintuitive to embrace what many so readily dismiss as rabble-rousers or disgruntled employees getting in the way of business. But the higher truth, as the most experienced compliance professionals can attest, is that whistleblowers...

October 17, 2023

Healthcare clearinghouse Inmediata, which facilitates transactions between healthcare providers and insurers, has agreed to pay $1.4 million to 33 states in connection with a data breach that affected approximately 1.5 million consumers for nearly three years.  Despite being alerted to the data breach in 2019, Inmediata failed to notify consumers for over three months.  When it finally did send notice, the notices...

October 17, 2023

ACI Worldwide, a third-party payment processor for clients such as mortgage service provider Nationstar Mortgage (a/k/a Mr. Cooper), has agreed to pay $10 million to all 50 states for its role in a 2021 testing error that impacted 477,000 Mr. Cooper clients nationwide.  While testing out a platform being offered to Mr. Cooper clients, ACI accidentally submitted live consumer data into the ACH system, which caused ACI...