Wednesday, October 13, 2021
This October, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco announced that the Department of Justice (DOJ) is launching a Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative as part of the department's increased focus on False Claims Act enforcement in the cybersecurity space. This initiative places whistleblowers and False Claims Act relators front-and-center as critical parts of the government's cybersecurity strategy.
The Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative's main tool of the False Claims Act empowers insiders to hold individuals or companies to higher standard with regard to protecting government data. Specifically, the initiative scrutinizes individuals or companies providing services to the government that knowingly fail to report cybersecurity breaches, provide insufficient cybersecurity services, or claim to provide cybersecurity services which they in fact do not.