Case Study: U.S. State Department of Revenue stops attacker movement with Illusive

U.S. State Department of Revenue - Customer Case Study

The U.S. State Department of Revenue needed to better protect confidential citizen and business tax data from breach, especially against attackers who might slip past the perimeter and move laterally inside the network. Working in a high-risk, high-volume environment with heavy alert noise, the department wanted a way to detect in-network threats faster and reduce the burden on its small security team. Illusive was selected after a proof of concept, with the team evaluating deception technology as a way to close this visibility gap.

Illusive implemented its Attack Detection System using agentless deceptions that mimicked real credentials, connections, and assets across the department’s infrastructure. The solution exposed east-west attacker movement, delivered high-fidelity alerts with useful forensic detail, and helped the team identify an unauthorized internal connection that existing EDR and antivirus tools missed. With Illusive, the department gained confidence in protecting sensitive data, reduced threat response time, and strengthened internal security against lateral movement.