Raytheon Companies and the Nightwing Group are now on the hook for a combined $8.4 million settlement following allegations of cybersecurity non-compliance in government defense contracts. According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office , the companies were charged under the False Claims Act for their alleged failure to meet required cybersecurity standards set forth by the Department of Defense (DoD) regulations when performing unclassified work for the DoD. The investigation concluded that the inadequacies spanned between 2015 and 2021, prior to Nightwing’s acquisition of Raytheon's cybersecurity unit.

"Cyber threats have grown in size and reach in recent years, leaving no room for complacency among those in the public sector, private sector, or even among private citizens," U.S. Attorney Edward R. Martin Jr. said in a statement reported by the Justice Department . The settlement, he noted, demonstrates the government's stern commitment to pursuing contractors that skirt their cybersecurity responsibilities. These lapses allegedly included the absence of a system security plan and noncompliance with various stipulations of the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) and Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR).

The settled allegations detailed that Raytheon and its subsidiary, Raytheon Cyber Solutions, Inc. (RCSI), did not enact proper cybersecurity controls on an internal development system which was utilized for work on 29 DoD contracts and subcontracts. This failure potently put covered defense information and federal contract information at risk. "Failure to implement cybersecurity requirements can have devastating consequences, leaving sensitive DoD data vulnerable to cyber threats and malicious actors," Special Agent in Charge William Richards of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations Procurement Fraud Office, Andrew AFB, Md, told the Justice Department.

The matter came to light through the whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act, which allows private citizens to sue on behalf of the government in cases of suspected fraud. Branson Kenneth Fowler, Sr., a former Director of Engineering with Raytheon, filed the initial lawsuit and is set to receive a $1.512 million from the settlement. The case, captioned U.S. ex rel. Doe v. Raytheon Co., et al., was resolved through concerted efforts between the Justice Department’s Civil Division, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, and other defense criminal investigative services. The investigation was spearheaded by Assistant U.S. Attorney Darrell Valdez of the District of Columbia and Senior Trial Counsel Kimberly Friday of the Justice Department’s Civil Division.