Of the 1,000 largest distributed denial-of-service, or DDoS, attacks mitigated by Lumen Technologies offerings in the 4th quarter of 2023, nearly 70% were aimed at the government, according to a report issued by the cybersecurity company.

The same report indicated that 2023 Q4 saw a 163% quarterly increase in DDoS attacks against the government and a more than 4,000% increase year over year, Lumen said Thursday.

The company presented these figures in its Quarterly DDoS & Application Threat Report for Q4 2023. The data is taken from Lumen’s DDoS mitigation platform and from computer security provider ThreatX, Lumen’s application protection partner.

According to Lumen Vice President of Product, Cybersecurity and AI Sharada Achanta, the possession of sensitive data makes the government “a prime target for cyberattacks” by actors who aim to spy, extort or cause disruptions.

Achanta went on to tout the capabilities of her company’s products, noting, “Lumen’s threat intelligence and DDoS mitigation, powered by AI and machine learning, offer customers a distinctive and comprehensive cybersecurity solution.”

A cyberthreat group called Volt Typhoon is being sponsored by the Chinese government to disrupt critical infrastructure sectors such as communications, utilities, energy and transportation in the continental and non-continental U.S., according to a new cybersecurity advisory.

The warning was issued Wednesday by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency in partnership with NSA, FBI and similar departments from the governments of the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

Volt Typhoon exploits “living off the land” techniques by hacking and conducting reconnaissance on legitimate and native tools and processes of critical infrastructure entities. They design their malicious tactics, techniques, and procedures to blend into the organization’s environment, compromising their systems.

The U.S. and allied agencies accompanied the joint advisory with guidance to detect Volt Typhoon’s activities, including deploying patches for internet-facing software and appliances easily exploited by the cyber actor.

“The PRC cyber threat is not theoretical: leveraging information from our government and industry partners, CISA teams have found and eradicated Volt Typhoon intrusions into critical infrastructure across multiple sectors. And what we’ve found to date is likely the tip of the iceberg,” CISA Director Jen Easterly commented. “We strongly encourage all critical infrastructure organizations to review and implement the actions in these advisories and report any suspected Volt Typhoon or living off the land activity to CISA or FBI,” the Wash100 winner added.