US: Department of Homeland Security data leak exposes details of more than 40,000 employees

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has confirmed that over 40,000 of its employees' personal information has been leaked online. The leak, claimed by the website Distributed Denial of Secrets, includes names, phone numbers, and email addresses of employees from various DHS components, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

DHS has stated it is aware of the potential breach and is actively working to address the situation. The agency said it is taking steps to ensure the protection of its employees and will provide further updates as more information becomes available. The leak is the third major government data breach in the past month, following incidents involving the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Defense Department.

The leaked data includes job titles and email groups, which reveal the roles of specific agents, such as those assigned to special operations, surveillance, computer forensics, and undercover work. Distributed Denial of Secrets co-founder Emma Best mentioned that the hacktivist known as maia arson crimew created a search tool for the data, allowing the public to browse it. The tool aims to replace anonymity with accountability and aid journalists, public records requests, and congressional oversight.

The Department of Peace, the entity behind the leak, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. However, it claimed that the data was obtained from the Okta sign-on service used by DHS. Okta responded by stating that its systems and data were secure and had not been compromised. Reuters was unable to independently verify the authenticity of the entire data trove but was able to match the personal information of six DHS employees to credit bureau records and dark web intelligence platform District 4 Labs.

Some of the employees confirmed that they were unaware of a breach, while others noted that the data included nonpublic information about internal DHS organization charts and undisclosed programs or operations.