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ARTICLE · 21 NOVEMBER 2024

Penn State Settlement Demonstrates Government's Continued Focus On Cybersecurity Compliance

Feldesman Leifer
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On October 22, the Department of Justice announced that Pennsylvania State University will pay $1.25 million to settle a False Claims Act ("FCA") lawsuit accusing it of failing to comply with cybersecurity requirements for defense and NASA contracts.

United StatesTechnology
David A. Mahoney
David A. Mahoney
Mindy B. Pava
Mindy B. Pava

On October 22, the Department of Justice announced that Pennsylvania State University will pay $1.25 million to settle a False Claims Act ("FCA") lawsuit accusing it of failing to comply with cybersecurity requirements for defense and NASA contracts. The settlement resolves allegations, brought by an internal whistleblower, that Penn State failed to meet the Department of Defense's ("DOD") cybersecurity requirements for contractor information systems and for the use of external cloud service providers, as well as NASA's requirements mandating that unclassified information technology resources be secured.

Contractors that work with DOD (including major research institutions) should keep apprised of the long-awaited final rule for the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification ("CMMC") program, which was published in October and outlines mandatory cybersecurity standards contractors must meet before they can bid on most DOD contracts. The CMMC rule will become

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