A hacking group leaked the files of more than 41,000 Department of Homeland Security personnel online, exposing names, contact information and assignments.
The transparency nonprofit Distributed Denial of Secrets published a massive database containing records after a group known as the Department of Peace harvested data from the department’s sign-on service.
“On July 17th, [Homeland Security Secretary] Markwayne Mullin said he was ’turning up the heat.’ This is what happens to ICE when you do that,” a spokesperson for the Department of Peace said in a statement.
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The leak includes agents, operatives, associates and those involved in undercover operations.
Contact information compromised includes phone numbers and email addresses of employees from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection, Homeland Security Investigations, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and other component agencies.
The leak shows which agents were assigned to special operations, surveillance jobs, computer forensics and undercover work.
A Homeland Security spokesperson said the agency is “aware of a potential breach and is actively working to address the situation swiftly and effectively.”
“We take all security threats against our employees and officers seriously and will work to ensure all are properly protected,” the spokesperson added. “We will update the public when more information is available.”
A spokesperson for Okta, the department’s sign-on service, said that it has “no evidence our data or systems were compromised.”
Distributed Denial of Secrets co-founder Emma Best said that rather than an indiscriminate directory of every department employee, their database identifies “many of the architects and drivers of DHS policy and operations.”
“The leak is extraordinary but deceptive in its simplicity as it identifies the officials responsible for overseeing covert and undercover operations, the government’s hunt for leakers and the failed BlueLeaks investigation — along with key personnel in DHS’s ever-escalating rendition and deportation programs,” Ms. Best said in a statement.
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