Espionage Series | Real-world cyber espionage case

Here’s one of the biggest real-world cyber espionage cases that shook global politics

🔹 The 2015 U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Hack

  • What happened?
    Hackers broke into the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the agency that keeps records of federal government employees.
  • What was stolen?
    • Personal data of 21.5 million people, including fingerprints, addresses, medical info, and even security clearance background checks.
    • This was basically the U.S. government’s master file on its employees.
  • Who was behind it?
    U.S. officials said the attack was likely sponsored by China, though China denied it.
  • Why was it serious?
    • With that data, foreign intelligence could identify U.S. spies or potential recruits.
    • It became one of the biggest breaches in U.S. history and highlighted how cyber espionage can be more powerful than traditional spying.

🔹 Other Big Cases

  • Stuxnet (2010) → A cyber weapon (likely by the U.S. and Israel) used to sabotage Iran’s nuclear program.
  • SolarWinds Hack (2020) → A massive cyber espionage campaign (attributed to Russia) that infiltrated U.S. government agencies and major corporations.

👉 These cases show how espionage today can be global, invisible, and devastating, without a single spy ever stepping across borders.