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Townsend Bourne

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Townsend Bourne is a partner in the Government Contracts, Investigations and International Trade Practice Group in the firm's Washington, D.C. office. She also is Leader of the firm’s Aerospace, Defense & Government Services Team.

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On March 8, 2022, just five months after the creation of the Department of Justice’s (“DOJ”) new Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative (previously discussed here), the DOJ announced its first settlement of a cyber-related fraud case. Under the settlement agreement, Comprehensive Health Services LLC (“CHS”) will pay $930,000 to resolve whistleblower allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by (among other things) failing to properly store and handle confidential information. This likely is just the start for increased cyber-related enforcement actions.

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Continue Reading Well, That Didn’t Take Long – DOJ Announces its First Settlement of a Civil Cyber-Fraud Case

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (“NIST”) is seeking comments on its second draft of NIST SP 800-161 Rev. 1, “Cyber Supply Chain Risk Management Practices for Systems and Organizations,” published on October 28, 2021. We previously discussed the release of the first draft here. The public comment period currently is open and concludes on December 3, 2021. NIST anticipates releasing a final version during the third quarter of 2022.

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Continue Reading Seeking HoNIST Opinions, Part II – NIST Invites Comments on Major Revision to Cyber Supply Chain Risk Management Practices and Software Guidelines Mandated By Cybersecurity Executive Order

On November 4, 2021, the Department of Defense (“DOD”) announced several changes to the Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (“CMMC”) program – the program that DOD intends to use to enhance the security of the defense industrial base through assessments and third-party cybersecurity certifications.[1] The new version of the program – “CMMC 2.0” – is a result of DOD’s internal review of the CMMC program implemented thus far (“CMMC 1.0”), which began following the release of an interim rule in September 2020, and included review of over 850 public comments. DOD intends to engage in additional rulemaking to refine and finalize CMMC 2.0. Although the overall goal of the program remains focused on safeguarding sensitive unclassified information, CMMC 2.0 includes several important differences from the original program, as discussed in greater detail below.
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Continue Reading DOD Updates Its Cybersecurity Certification Program – CMMC 2.0: What Contractors Need to Know

On Wednesday, October 6, 2021, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) announced a new Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative to enforce cybersecurity standards and reporting requirements. The Initiative will use DOJ’s civil enforcement mechanisms, namely the False Claims Act, to pursue government contractors and federal grant recipients that “knowingly provid[e] deficient cybersecurity products or services, knowingly misrepresent[] their cybersecurity practices or protocols, or knowingly violat[e] obligations to monitor and report cybersecurity incidents and breaches.” DOJ will not limit enforcement to entities; individuals also can be held accountable for cybersecurity-related fraud. Under the False Claims Act, penalties for such violations could be substantial, including treble damages.
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Continue Reading DOJ Announces Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative To Enforce Contractor Cybersecurity Compliance

The Office of Management and Budget (“OMB”) released its draft Federal Zero Trust Strategy under President Biden’s Executive Order on Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity (No. 14028) (discussed previously here and…
Continue Reading Moving to Zero Trust – CISA and OMB Seek Comments on Zero Trust Publications and Cloud Security Technical Reference Architecture under Cybersecurity Executive Order

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (“NIST”) is seeking comments on its draft NIST SP 800-160, Volume 2, Revision 1, “Developing Cyber-Resilient Systems: A Systems Security Engineering Approach,” and draft NIST SP 800-53A, Revision 5, “Assessing Security and Privacy Controls in Information Systems and Organizations.” The public comment periods currently are open and conclude on September 20, 2021 and October 1, 2021, respectively.
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Continue Reading Double Time – NIST Seeks Comments on Major Revision to Practices for Developing Cyber-Resilient Systems (SP 800-160) and Assessing Security and Privacy Controls in Information Systems and Organizations (SP 800-53A)

The FedRAMP Program Management Office is seeking comments on its draft FedRAMP Authorization Boundary Guidance, Version 2.0, released on July 13, 2021. The public comment period currently is open and closes on September 13, 2021.
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Continue Reading Watch Your Boundaries – FedRAMP Releases Draft Authorization Boundary Guidance for Public Comment

As called for in the May 12, 2021 Cybersecurity Executive Order (“EO”) released by the Biden Administration (discussed here), NIST met its deadline to release a definition of “critical software” within 45 days of the date of the Order.  The determination of what constitutes “critical software” is a key step in the process set forth in the Order for securing the software supply chain, which will culminate sometime next year in new Federal Acquisition Regulations for contractors that supply software.
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Continue Reading Right on Time – NIST Releases Definition of “Critical Software” Per Biden’s Cybersecurity Executive Order

In February 2021, President Biden issued Executive Order 14017, “Executive Order on America’s Supply Chains” (discussed here), requiring (among other things) a report within 100-days requiring key government agencies to assess vulnerabilities and consider potential improvements to supply chains in four critical industries – (i) semiconductor manufacturing; (ii) high capacity batteries; (iii) rare earth elements; and (iv) pharmaceuticals.
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Continue Reading At a Glance: White House 100-Day Supply Chain Report

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (“NIST”) is seeking comments on its draft NIST SP 800-161 Rev. 1, “Cyber Supply Chain Risk Management Practices for Systems and Organizations,” published on April 29, 2021. The public comment period currently is open and concludes on June 14, 2021. NIST anticipates releasing a second draft in September 2021, with a final version anticipated to be released by April 2022.
Continue Reading Seeking HoNIST Opinions – NIST Invites Comments on Major Revision to Cyber Supply Chain Risk Management Practices for Systems and Organizations (SP 800-161) and Provides Further Software Supply Chain Guidance

On May 12, 2021, the Biden Administration issued its much anticipated “Executive Order on Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity.” Below are provisions we believe will be of most interest to contractors, as well as any company that provides information technology (“IT”) and operational technology (“OT”) services, cloud computing, software, or internet of things (“IoT”) technology, as the new regulations and standards called for in the Order are likely to have an impact beyond government contractors.
Continue Reading Biden’s Cybersecurity Executive Order