The Pennsylvania State University settled a false claims suit against it for $1.25 million, amid allegations it failed to comply with the Department of Defense and National Aeronautics and Space Administration's contractual cybersecurity requirements.
The settlement order in U.S. ex rel. Decker v. Pennsylvania State University was issued Wednesday, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the matter stems from a lawsuit filed under the whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act, with the settlement providing a $250,000 share for Matthew Decker, a former chief information officer for the university's applied research laboratory.
Julie Bracker, of Bracker & Marcus in Atlanta, represented Decker and described her client as "one of the first cyber-whistleblowers," in a case that shows a "cavalier attitude" toward cybersecurity and the increasingly common landscape of cyberattacks, hacks and breaches.
"We are proud to have represented Matthew Decker, who was willing to step forward and bring this to the government's attention, to his own detriment. As one of the first cyber-whistleblowers, his expertise was critical to the case," Bracker said. "We hope this settlement sends a message to other research institutions that the government takes these protections seriously and that cybersecurity is material to government contracts."
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