Security | Threat Detection | Cyberattacks | DevSecOps | Compliance

With digital transformation continuing unabated, the prevalence of legacy systems, and the rising interconnectedness of complex systems and services, organizations in the public sector face a plethora of challenges and cyber risks. In this article, which is part of a series of public sector blog series that tackle ransomware trends and dark web research pertaining to government entities, the Trustwave SpiderLabs team shines a spotlight on the various threats and risks affecting government organizations.

In 2025, 36 years after the first ransomware attack was recorded, actors continue to zero in on the public sector, and there is no evidence they will slow down any time soon. In fact, our numbers suggest that ransomware attacks against government organizations are ramping up, causing crippling service outages, massive data loss, reputational damage, public distrust, and financial harm.

In the first part of our series, we examined the challenges facing state and local governments as they work to secure and maintain the availability of increasingly complex digital systems. Today, we turn our focus to how collaboration—powered by shared data platforms like Splunk—can enhance incident response and overall digital resilience.

The dark web serves as a refuge for threat actors to gather intel, trade illicit goods and tools, and network with other cybercriminals. Aside from allowing threat actors to connect and learn from other individuals who share the same interests, the dark web facilitates the procurement and peddling of stolen data to make cyberattacks even more effective and nefarious.

Adversaries move fast, and so must defenders. CrowdStrike is raising the bar for ChromeOS security with two major advancements in CrowdStrike Falcon Insight for ChromeOS. New automated response actions deliver rapid device containment, and expanded support for GovCloud designed to support customers working toward meeting high compliance standards.

Public sector organizations face unprecedented cybersecurity challenges as artificial intelligence reshapes how adversaries launch attacks. Threat actors now use AI to execute large-scale, highly personalized phishing campaigns, automate the discovery of vulnerabilities, and evade detection faster than traditional defenses can respond.

Starting your journey as a government contractor can feel overwhelming. Between complex regulations, strict reporting requirements, and the constant threat of non-compliance penalties, new contractors face significant challenges that can derail their federal contracting ambitions before they even begin. The stakes couldn’t be higher. Non-compliance can result in contract termination, substantial financial penalties, and exclusion from future federal opportunities.

Government agencies are under increasing pressure to reduce operational costs while strengthening their defenses against costly cyber threats. Legacy systems and disjointed security tools lead to growing complexity, inefficiencies and higher expenses. Keeper Security offers a unified cybersecurity platform that eliminates the need for legacy Privileged Access Management (PAM) solutions, traditional password management, endpoint privilege management, remote access tools and secrets management.