DOJ sues Georgia Tech for cybersecurity failures with Defense Department involvement

TLDR:

• The Justice Department joined a whistleblower lawsuit against Georgia Tech for cybersecurity failures in contracts with the Department of Defense.
• The lawsuit focuses on Astrolavos Lab, a company under Georgia Tech, and its co-director, Manos Antonakakis, for not following cybersecurity regulations.

The Justice Department has backed a whistleblower lawsuit against the Georgia Institute of Technology for alleged cybersecurity failures in contracts with the U.S. Department of Defense. The lawsuit, originally filed by current and former members of Georgia Tech’s cybersecurity team, accuses the university of shirking its cybersecurity obligations. The lawsuit centers around Astrolavos Lab, a company under Georgia Tech, and its co-director, Manos Antonakakis, who leads research on cybersecurity. Antonakakis was hired as a contractor by both the Air Force and the Defense Department’s DARPA for projects related to cyberattack attribution. The lawsuit alleges that Antonakakis refused to install basic antivirus software on the computers used for these projects, violating federal cybersecurity regulations. Georgia Tech also reportedly did not implement a cybersecurity plan at Astrolavos Lab until years after contracts were signed. The Justice Department is filing the lawsuit on behalf of various government agencies and emphasizes the importance of government contractors abiding by cybersecurity requirements to protect sensitive information and systems against malicious actors.