$2M Settlement Served: DOJ Cracks Down on Inadequate Cybersecurity in Government Contractors

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has announced another settlement under the False Claims Act (FCA), this time with Honeywell Aerospace Inc. over allegations related to its cybersecurity practices on Department of Defense contracts.

Honeywell Aerospace, a government contractor based in Arizona, agreed to pay over $2 million to settle an FCA matter that arose from claims it failed to meet National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) requirements for handling controlled unclassified information (CUI).

The allegations stem from a complaint filed by a former IT employee who claimed the company had inadequate cybersecurity controls, including insufficient protection against malicious code and inadequate incident testing and response.

Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate noted that the DOJ will continue to investigate potential violations of these cybersecurity requirements to protect critical information.