Technology and Scienceupdated 1h ago3 min read
Hacker Behind "Department of Peace" Posts 40,000 DHS Employee Records Online
“The leak is extraordinary but deceptive in it's simplicity as it identifies the officials responsible”
“The DHS has worked to conceal the identities of CBP and ICE agents”
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More than 41,000 DHS employees had their names, contact details, and offices exposed. Data includes undercover ICE agents and CBP personnel; emails, cell numbers, office locations.
DHS records posted online
A hacker using the name "Department of Peace" stole personal information on about 40,000 employees of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and posted it online, TechCrunch reported on Oct. 28 local time.
“They have our information, so it is fair for us to have theirs.”
The leaked information included names, titles, email addresses, mobile phone numbers and office locations, and the data also included information on border and immigration enforcement officers, cybersecurity staff and senior officials.
The hacker claimed to have extracted the data from the Okta single sign-on (SSO) system used by DHS employees and contractors to log into a central network, and the hacker left a note saying, "They have our information, so it is fair for us to have theirs."
More than half of the leaked records, about 21,000 entries, involved U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) employees, and the data also included information on 10,000 employees of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and its Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) unit.
Okta said there was no evidence its data or systems had been compromised, and the leak was described as the second leak DHS has suffered this year.
DDoSecrets frames accountability
Distributed Denial of Secrets hosted the leak in a database named Icepick and shared it through a website hosted by Distributed Denial of Secrets, and the BBC said the Wednesday leak marked the third time in recent weeks a government agency had been targeted by leaks or hacks. Emma Best, a co founder of DDoSecrets, said the aim was to replace "anonymity with accountability," and Best added that the leak identified the officials responsible for overseeing covert and undercover operations. The Department of Peace pointed directly at actions by ICE agents for the groups work to hack DHS records, and a spokesperson wrote on Wednesday, "On July 17th, Markwayne Mullin said he was 'turning up the heat'."
Okta responded to the claims by saying, "Okta is secure, and we have no evidence our data or systems were compromised," and the BBC reported that a representative of the DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The leaked information also included dozens of previously unknown operation names, the agents that led and worked on those operations, and some of the technology they used in their work, including tech provided by Cellbrite and Palantir.
Surveillance tools and access
The leaked dataset linked DHS agencies to specific surveillance tools, and TechCrunch reported that the data also contained information on surveillance technology that employees can access. TechCrunch said the data included information about employees20membership in user groups within the department20s Active Directory, a system that controls access to the department20s internal tools, services, and third-party offerings used for work. TechCrunch reported that around 4,500 users, including ICE agents and deportation officers, were members of a group called "Headspace_users," and it said Online therapy provider Headspace previously had an $82,500 federal contract with ICE that ended in 2023 to fund "mental health software required for ERO employees."
WIRED described the archive as "Icepick" and said the records included references to internal systems and sensitive information on undercover and surveillance programs, while DDoSecrets said the data is from DHS's Okta login system. WIRED also reported that the leak provides a map of how DHS is organized and how it operates, and it said the files cover about a seventh of DHS20s workforce, revealing how DHS is structured from senior leadership down to individual immigration agents and detention contractors.