Hackers leak personal details of 41,000 US homeland security staff

Summarised from 5 outlets · Updated 28 Oct, 22:40 · Archive

Personal information on more than 41,000 Department of Homeland Security employees, including immigration agents, has been publicly released.

A group calling itself the Department of Peace has published personal details of more than 41,000 Department of Homeland Security employees. The leaked information includes names, job titles, phone numbers, email addresses and office locations of staff across multiple DHS agencies.

The largest portion of the data, some 21,000 records, relates to employees with US Customs and Border Protection, who work at airports and other ports of entry. Nearly 10,000 records belong to staff at Immigration and Customs Enforcement and its Homeland Security Investigations unit. Thousands of additional records relate to employees of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, US Citizenship and Immigration Services, and the Federal Protective Service.

The hacker claimed to have accessed the information through Okta, a single sign-on system that DHS uses to allow employees and contractors across its agencies to log into a central network. An Okta spokesperson told Wired the company is unaware of any breach. "Okta is secure, and we have no evidence our data or systems were compromised," the spokesperson said.

The leaked data includes job titles and email groups showing which employees were assigned to special operations, surveillance work, computer forensics and undercover operations. The data also reportedly links DHS agencies to specific surveillance tools, including facial recognition applications and software used for analysing phone and online data.

The transparency nonprofit Distributed Denial of Secrets published the archive, calling it "Icepick," on Wednesday. Cybersecurity researcher maia arson crimew developed a searchable database for the information. In a statement, Emma Best, a co-founder of Distributed Denial of Secrets, said the leak would "replace anonymity with accountability" and help guide public records requests and congressional oversight.

The hacker left a note with the files stating: "They have our information, so it's only fair that we have theirs." The Department of Peace did not provide further details about its identity or motivations.

The breach marks the third significant government data disclosure in recent weeks. In September, hackers claiming to be ShinyHunters stole personal information on FBI employees and job applicants. Last week, the Defence Department faced a class action lawsuit following a breach exposing data on millions of current and former military personnel. The DHS did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

How it is being reported

• Non-profit group leaks data of more than 40,000 homeland security workersInformation released by Distributed Denial of Secrets is the third such government data disclosure in the last month The leak website Distributed Denial of Secrets said on Wednesday it has released data on more than 40,000 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) employees, including details about officials working in sensitive fields such as surveillance and human intelligence. DHS did not immediately return a message seeking comment. Continue reading...Guardian World · 28 Oct, 22:27
• Details of thousands of US immigration agents leaked in major hackA group called the Department of Peace released information on more than 41,000 DHS staff.BBC Technology · 28 Oct, 22:12
• A hacker stole more than 40,000 DHS employee recordsA hacker stole a trove of personal information from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The breach exposes the names, job titles, phone numbers, email addresses, and office locations of more than 41,000 employees, including those in US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), according to TechCrunch and Wired. The […]The Verge · 28 Oct, 21:57
• Hacker stole personnel data about thousands of Homeland Security employees, including CBP and ICE agentsA hacker obtained personally identifiable information about more than 40,000 Homeland Security staffers, which has since been published online.TechCrunch · 28 Oct, 20:01
• Massive Leak Exposes 41,000 Homeland Security Workers—Including Undercover ICE AgentsThe leaked records include the locations of ICE and CBP facilities, workers' cellphone numbers, and the members of groups tied to wiretap programs, Palantir software, and xAI’s Grok chatbot.Wired · 28 Oct, 20:00

In this story: Department of Homeland Security · Immigration and Customs Enforcement · Customs and Border Protection · Distributed Denial of Secrets · Okta · Department of Peace · maia arson crimew · Emma Best

This summary was written by AI from the headlines and standfirsts above, and states as fact only what at least two outlets report. How we use AI · Report a problem · Corrections log