Defense Contractor MORSE to Pay $4.6M to Settle Cybersecurity Failure Allegations

Cambridge, Massachusetts-based defense contractor MORSE Corp has agreed to pay $4.6 million to settle allegations regarding its failure to comply with the government’s cybersecurity requirements.

A law firm representing a whistleblower said its client raised concerns over MORSE Corp’s cybersecurity failures in January 2023. MORSE specializes in aerospace engineering and the accusations were related to the company’s contracts with the US Army and Air Force.

The whistleblower said MORSE had not fully implemented required NIST data security controls (and inflated its assessment score), it did not have a consolidated system security plan, and was using email services that did not meet the government’s security requirements.

The government determined that the defense contractor violated the False Claims Act and on Wednesday the Justice Department announced that a settlement has been reached, with MORSE agreeing to pay $4.6 million to resolve the allegations.

“Federal contractors must ...