DOJ Announces New Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative

DOJ Announces New Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative




US Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative. The initiative will focus on using the False Claims Act (FCA) to pursue fraud related to cybersecurity, with an emphasis on fraudulent acts perpetrated by government contractors and recipients of federal funds. The FCA gives the DOJ authority to bring civil enforcement actions against companies that make false claims for federal funds, and it empowers whistleblowers to advance the government’s interest in combatting fraud by allowing private parties to bring lawsuits on the government’s behalf and take a share of the proceeds of any recovery.


Led by the Fraud Section of the DOJ Civil Division’s Commercial Litigation Branch, the initiative seeks to “hold accountable entities or individuals that put U.S. information or systems at risk by knowingly providing deficient cybersecurity products or services, knowingly misrepresenting their cybersecurity protocols, or knowingly violating obligations to monitor and report cybersecurity incidents and breaches.” The DOJ’s announcement lists a series of benefits the DOJ hopes to achieve through the initiative, which include “[h]olding contractors and grantees to their commitments to protect government information and infrastructure[,]” and “[e]nsuring that companies that follow the rules and invest in meeting cybersecurity requirements are not at a competitive disadvantage.”








INCREASED EMPHASIS ON CIVIL ENFORCEMENT






Notably, the Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative is the first major initiative announced by the Department as a result of an ongoing cyber review ordered by the Deputy Attorney General in May 2021.* The initiative also puts into action statements made by DOJ officials following the 2020 presidential election, and it underscores the importance of affirmative civil enforcement in broader efforts to counter threats posed by ransomware attacks and other cyberattacks. For example, last Dece ..

Support the originator by clicking the read the rest link below.