Happy Monday, and thanks for tuning in to this week’s segment of Mondays with Miranda!
In recent news, Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco announced the launch of the Justice department’s Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative. Monaco said last week, “We are announcing today that we will use our civil enforcement tools to pursue companies, those who are government contractors who receive federal funds, when they fail to follow required cybersecurity standards.” The government is preparing to utilize the False Claims Act in order to pursue cases against those DoD contractors who wrongfully claim they meet NIST SP 800-171 or any level of CMMC compliance.
In other news, Katie Arrington, who has been on administrative leave for the past five months, has recently filed a lawsuit against the DoD and NSA over allegations that led to her suspension. Arrington had previously held the position of chief information security officer for the Pentagon’s Acquisition and Sustainment Office. According to the complaint filed last Tuesday, the memorandum suspending her clearance stated that the action “is being taken as a result of a reported unauthorized disclosure of classified information and subsequent removal of access” by the National Security Agency. Arrington claims that her suspension is “baseless” and is attempting to clear her name.
Finally, it’s National Cybersecurity Awareness Month this month! With that in mind, here’s a friendly reminder that cybersecurity awareness training for company employees is extremely important and also mandatory when it comes to complying with CMMC Level 3 and NIST SP 800-171. Keep your business protected and don’t click those suspicious email links!
That’s all for today! Thank you for tuning in to this week’s segment of “Mondays With Miranda!” Keep up to date with current news by following NeQter Labs on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Youtube. We love comments and questions, so please feel free to send me an email at [email protected].
