A leak website called Distributed Denial of Secrets announced Wednesday it has published data on more than 40,000 Department of Homeland Security employees, including officials working in sensitive fields like surveillance and human intelligence.
DHS confirmed it is “aware of a potential breach and is actively working to address the situation swiftly and effectively.” The agency said it is working to protect employees and will update the public “when more information is available.”
The data reportedly came from a group calling itself “Department of Peace,” which claimed back in March that it had hacked DHS and posted documents tied to outside vendor contracts. This time, according to a statement from Distributed Denial of Secrets co-founder Emma Best, the group pulled the data from the Okta sign-on service used by DHS.
Okta disputes that. Asked about the claim, the company told Reuters: “Okta is secure, and we have no evidence our data or systems were compromised.”
This is the third major government data breach to hit the headlines in a single month. In September, the hacking group ShinyHunters claimed it stole a massive trove of FBI data, including sensitive job and medical information on bureau employees. Last week, the Defense Department was slapped with a class action lawsuit after a breach exposed data on millions of current and former military personnel.
What’s in the data
The leaked files include names, phone numbers and email addresses of employees across Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection, Homeland Security Investigations, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and other DHS components. Job titles and email groups were also exposed, revealing which agents were assigned to special operations, surveillance work, computer forensics and undercover assignments.
Reuters was able to match personal information on six named DHS employees against credit bureau records and dark web breach data compiled by District 4 Labs. The outlet also called three DHS employees directly and confirmed their phone numbers and other details. One employee said it was the first they’d heard of any breach.
Some of the exposed information mirrors what’s already public on employees’ LinkedIn profiles. But in other cases, the leak reveals nonpublic details, including internal DHS organization charts and previously undisclosed programs and operations.
A search tool for the public
Distributed Denial of Secrets says the hacktivist and journalist known as “maia arson crimew” built a search tool to let the public browse the data. Emma Best said the tool would “replace anonymity with accountability” and could empower journalists, guide public records requests, and bolster congressional oversight. Crimew described it as “FOIA material for years to come!”
In a statement accompanying the data, Department of Peace said DHS employees “have our information, so it’s only fair that we have theirs,” adding that it hopes the release “can be used to limit further harm by the DHS and supports all efforts in that direction.” The group did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Neither Reuters nor outside reporters have been able to verify the authenticity of the entire trove, though the information checked so far has held up.
