Timeline of Top US Government Data Breaches, 1996 to June 2023
Fifteen of twenty-seven major US federal government data breaches have been associated with foreign threat actors, with China topping the list.
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According to Metacurity’s research, the latest attack on the US government by the Russia-based hacking group Clop is just the latest in a string of twenty-seven significant breaches of federal government organizations (see list and description below) that stretches back to 1996 when a Russian hacking group known as Turla, run by Russia’s FSB intel agency, launched a massive info-stealing operation on US military targets in an operation known as Moonlight Maze.
An examination of the twenty-seven breaches reveals the following observations:
Fifteen of the twenty-seven breaches were affiliated with foreign threat actors, although in many cases, it’s not clear if the threat actor was tied to a foreign government.
China tops the list of countries associated with these breaches, with eight of the twenty-seven breaches either confirmed or strongly suspected as flowing from China.
Russia is the second most frequent source of foreign-tied cyber incidents, with five of the twenty-seven breaches coming from Russian threat actors, starting with Moonlight Maze in 1996.
Two cases were linked, at least in press reports, to unknown foreign actors.
Vietnam and Iran were each associated with one major incident.
Nine major government breaches, as reported by the press (with the likelihood that intel agencies ultimately determined the culprits), were associated with unknown actors.
Teen hackers and an operational error each accounted for one incident.
One major federal government incident was due to a non-state-affiliated hacker group. (The Dark Overlord).
Check out our timeline below for more details on these breaches. If any significant incident escaped our attention or something looks amiss, please drop us a line at info@metacurity.com.
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