A hacking group leaked the files of more than 41,000 Department of Homeland Security personnel online, exposing names, contact information and undercover assignments.
The transparency nonprofit Distributed Denial of Secrets published a massive database Wednesday 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, with now-disclosed personal information containing employee names, work addresses, phone numbers and job titles.
The breach affects roughly 15% of the Department of Homeland Security workforce.
This includes approximately 21,000 U.S. Customs and Border Protection employees, nearly 1,000 from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, 6,000 people listed as Immigration and Customs Enforcement employees and 3,000 listed as Homeland Security Investigations, which is also a part of ICE.
The leak shows which agents were assigned to special operations, surveillance jobs, computer forensics and undercover work, as well as HSI-certified undercover agents and hundreds of ICE use-of-force instructors.
At least 217 employees had access to the facial recognition tool MobileFortify, and at least 56 people had access to Cellebrite, an Israeli digital forensics company, according to the dataset.
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.
The breach is the latest in a series of cyber incidents targeting federal agencies.
ShinyHunters claimed to have stolen data on about 60,000 current and former FBI employees from FBIJobs.gov, including Social Security numbers and medical records. The FBI has acknowledged that employee data was stolen but has not confirmed the medical records claim.
Unidentified hackers exploited a Defense Manpower Data Center file-sharing system, exposing data on more than 3 million people with military ties, including about 294,000 deceased individuals. Two Marines filed a proposed class-action lawsuit over the breach.
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