Hacker steals data on more than 41,000 US Department of Homeland Security employees
A hacker has obtained personal records of employees at the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), including staff of the immigration and border agencies ICE and CBP. The leaked data also points to surveillance tools used by certain DHS groups.
A hacker calling themselves “Department of Peace” has stolen personal data on more than 41,000 employees of the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), according to TechCrunch and Wired. The affected staff include personnel at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The breach matters because DHS has tried to conceal the identities of ICE and CBP agents who carry out immigration raids across the country.
What was exposed
The leaked records contain names, job titles, phone numbers, email addresses and office locations. Roughly 21,000 entries relate to CBP employees, and nearly 7,000 to ICE staff. The data also includes records from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).
TechCrunch reported that the hacker got in through Okta, an identity and access management service used by DHS. The hacker told the outlet: “They have our information, so it’s only fair that we have theirs.”
How the data spread
The material was reportedly passed to cybersecurity researcher maia arson crimew, who shared it with Distributed Denial of Secrets (DDoSecrets), a nonprofit that now hosts the dataset, called “Icepick”.
The leak reportedly also contains information on DHS groups with access to surveillance tools, including the facial recognition app Mobile Fortify and PenLink, which can collect and analyze data from phones and online services.
The incident comes weeks after hackers stole data on FBI employees and job applicants. DHS did not immediately respond to The Verge’s request for comment.
