Leak Exposes Data on 41,000 US Homeland Security Employees

The transparency nonprofit Distributed Denial of Secrets (DDoSecrets) on Wednesday published an archive called "Icepick" containing records on more than 41,000 employees and contractors of the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the federal department responsible for immigration, border and cybersecurity agencies. The records include email addresses, phone numbers and office addresses, along with references to internal systems and sensitive information about undercover and surveillance programs.

Where the data came from

The records, last updated on August 19, 2026, cover DHS itself and seven component agencies, among them Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and US Customs and Border Protection (CBP). DDoSecrets and cybersecurity researcher and journalist maia arson crimew previewed the data to WIRED, saying a group calling itself the Department of Peace supplied it. DDoSecrets says it comes from DHS's Okta login system. An Okta spokesperson said the company is unaware of any breach of its systems and has no evidence of a compromise.

What the records show

According to WIRED's analysis, CBP staff make up more than half of the entries, ICE about 10,000 and US Citizenship and Immigration Services about 6,200. Nearly 1,000 are tied to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. In total the files cover about a seventh of the DHS workforce.

Names of permission groups point to certified undercover operations, wiretap programs, and tools such as Palantir's Falcon platform and PenLink. One group lists 13 people, including former DHS head Kristi Noem. A group called "Grok.com" includes eight DHS technology officials. More than 200 CBP accounts are tied to Mobile Fortify, a face recognition app used by immigration agents.

Reactions

Alexander Leslie of threat intelligence company Recorded Future said that, if authentic and current, the dataset is a highly valuable resource for those seeking to penetrate DHS. Crimew says the archive is an accountability tool, not doxing. Adam Steinbaugh, a senior attorney at the civil liberties group FIRE, said names and basic work details are information found on a business card and cannot be criminalized. DHS and the Department of Justice did not respond to requests for comment.