This is not the first time the State Department was hacked. December 2020 and July 2006 were the most notable and were also publicly announced. Last December’s attack also included the Pentagon (Department of Defense), the Department of Homeland Security as well as other agencies. The attack was alleged to be by the Russians using the malware installed by the SolarWinds network management software. Numerous businesses and their clients were also hit who used SolarWinds, including election management systems.

The current announcement on the U.S. State Department was that it was recently hit by a cyber-attack, and notifications of a possible serious breach were made by the Department of Defense Cyber Command.

It is unclear when the breach was discovered, but according to Reuters and Fox News, it is believed to have happened a couple of weeks ago

The State Department claims its ongoing mission to evacuate Americans and allied refugees from Afghanistan has “not been affected.”

Without confirming any incident, a knowledgeable source told Reuters the State Department has not experienced significant disruptions and has not had its operations impeded in any way.

“The Department takes seriously its responsibility to safeguard its information and continuously takes steps to ensure information is protected. For security reasons, we are not in a position to discuss the nature or scope of any alleged cybersecurity incidents at this time”, a State Department spokesperson said in a statement.