Leak website releases data on thousands of US Homeland Security employees

On October 28, a leak website called Distributed Denial of Secrets announced the release of data on over 40,000 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) employees. The information included sensitive details such as names, phone numbers, email addresses, job titles, and email groups. The data primarily pertains to agencies like Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

DHS acknowledged the potential breach and is taking swift action to address the situation. The agency stated it is working to protect its employees and will provide further updates as more information becomes available.

This incident follows the release of similar data troves from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Defense Department in recent weeks. ShinyHunters claimed responsibility for stealing sensitive data from the FBI, while the Defense Department faced a class action lawsuit over a breach exposing information on millions of military personnel.

Distributed Denial of Secrets co-founder Emma Best revealed that the hacktivist identified as "maia arson crimew" created a search tool to allow the public to browse the leaked data. The tool aims to replace anonymity with accountability, empowering journalists, aiding public records requests, and enhancing congressional oversight.

The Department of Peace, an entity behind the leak, stated that they possess DHS employee information and believe it is only fair that they share it. They hope the data can be used to limit further harm by the DHS and support all efforts in that direction.

The leaked data was obtained from Okta, a sign-on service used by DHS employees. Okta denied any compromise of its data or systems. Reuters attempted to verify the authenticity of the leaked data but confirmed the accuracy of personal information about six DHS employees by cross-referencing the information with credit bureau records and dark web intelligence platforms.