Top 5 Government Cyberattacks & What We Must Learn

In the second quarter of 2025, public sector organizations around the world experienced an average of 2,632 weekly cyberattacks each, marking a 26% year-over-year increase. These are the 5 biggest cyberattacks in recent times that have severely impacted government operations, trust, and security:

1. SolarWinds

The SolarWinds cyberattack impacted over 18,000 private and public sector organizations globally and is considered one of the most serious and sophisticated supply chain attacks in cybersecurity history. Affected enterprises paid high regulatory fines, faced lawsuits, lost customer trust, and even experienced losses estimated at 8–14% of annual revenue.

How it Happened

• Attackers inserted malicious code into legitimate updates of the SolarWinds Orion IT management platform that were digitally signed and distributed via trusted channels.
• They also used compromised credentials and federated authentication tokens to bypass multi-factor authentication measures and move laterally.
• They went on to deploy more sophisticated malware inside networks of high-profile targets.

What went wrong

• The attack went undetected for almost a year – from September 2019 to December 2020.
• Many enterprises did not have the necessary mechanisms in place to detect unusual patterns in trusted software.
• Once the attack was detected, the initial response was fragmented and disorganized.
• Some federal agencies did not have protocols for quick information sharing and coordinated response effort.
• Many organizations struggled to identify and address all malicious artefacts and backdoors.

2. Colonial Pipeline

In May 2021, the DarkSide hacker group launched a ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline, shutting down the pipeline that supplied fuel to the US East Coast. It caused widespread shortages, sudden price hikes, air travel and supply chain disruptions.

How it Happened

• The hackers exploited an inactive Virtual Private Network (VPN) account that did not have multifactor authentication measures. They used a password leaked on the dark web.

What went wrong

• This incident exposed the risks posed by legacy and insecure remote access points.
• The attack went undetected for a long time and the company was caught unprepared for such a crisis with no manual or rapid restart options to minimize disruption.

3. US Treasury Department Breach

In 2024, threat actors accessed and exfiltrated over 3000 files involving senior government officials.

How it Happened

• Hackers, believed to be Chinese state-sponsored actors, exploited two zero-day vulnerabilities in a remote support platform to access the US Treasury Department networks.

What went wrong

• The third-party vendor notified the Treasury only 6 days after it first discovered the breach, allowing the hackers to expand the scope of intrusion.
• Insufficient monitoring of third-party integrations enabled the attackers to move around the Treasury’s systems undetected.
• The use of static or inadequately protected API keys enabled privilege escalation without secondary controls, creating a single point of failure.

4. France Ministry of Justice Breach

This was part of a larger attack that impacted up to 2,000 government websites. The threat actors encrypted files and stole sensitive judicial documents. They also threatened to release the documents if their ransom demands were not met.

How it Happened

• Attackers used Lockbit ransomware to breach the Ministry’s defenses. The Ministry did not publicly disclose specific entry details.

What went wrong

• Initial statements from the Ministry acknowledged the incident but did not provide any operational details on its extent, or mitigation efforts.
• Services were restored after significant downtime and public disruption.

5. UK Ministry of Defense Breach

Chinese hackers accessed the UK Ministry of Defense networks via blind spots in a third-party contractor’s system. They accessed sensitive information on military personnel including names and bank details.

How it Happened

• The intruders exploited vulnerabilities in the third-party contractor’s systems to access sensitive files and data within the UK Ministry of Defense.

What went wrong

• There was a 3 month delay before the Ministry informed affected parties that their data was at risk.

At a Glance: Major Government Cyberattacks and Key Lessons

What These Attacks Have in Common

• Poor Communication and Late Responses
• Shadow IT Systems
• Insufficient monitoring and slow incident containment

Why Wire Is a Secure Ally for Public Institutions

The Wire platform uses the Messaging Layer Security (MLS) standard to provide scalable end-to-end encryption for all conversations and files, ensuring the highest level of security for sensitive industries.

Zero-Trust – The Wire platform is built on a zero-trust, zero-knowledge architecture. This means that no user, device, or application is trusted by default and the platform continuously verifies users and enforces role-based access controls.

Federation – Our platform uses a  moderated federation model that offers comprehensive administrative controls for enterprise-scale deployments. It reduces human error and ensures policy adherence during high-stakes conversations. It also facilitates better communication across previously siloed departments and external partners.

On-Premise support – Wire can be deployed completely on-premise, ensuring compliance with stringent security and confidentiality requirements. Wire Specialists provide complete installation and onboarding support.

From Reactive to Proactive: Rethinking Government Cyber Resilience

• Compliance Needs – The NIS2 Directive requires enhanced encryption standards, mandatory incident reporting, and executive accountability for critical infrastructure providers.
• Fallback Tools – Out-of-band communication tools are essential for secure, reliable collaboration during disruptions.
• Encryption – Government tools must use full encryption for all communication—at rest and in transit.

Conclusion

Cyberattacks on government systems are growing in frequency and sophistication. By learning from past failures and investing in secure, compliant, and modern platforms like Wire, public institutions can turn a major vulnerability into a strategic strength.