DHS Employee Data Exposed in Major Breach

More than 41,000 Department of Homeland Security personnel have had their work-related information exposed online, including names, work addresses, phone numbers and descriptions of their roles. The data includes thousands of employees involved in immigration enforcement: more than 21,000 at Customs and Border Protection and nearly 6,600 at Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Other agencies represented include Homeland Security Investigations, the Federal Protective Service and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. The leaked material also reportedly contains operation names, information about personnel involved in covert activities, and details of technology used by agents, including products from Cellebrite and Palantir. A group calling itself the Department of Peace said it accessed DHS profiles through Okta, a single sign-on service. Journalist and cybersecurity researcher maia crimew and the Distributed Denial of Secrets group published the information in a database called Icepick. DDoSecrets co-founder Emma Best said the release was intended to replace anonymity with accountability, while the Department of Peace linked its action to ICE enforcement activity. DHS said it was responding to a potential breach and would work to protect affected employees. Okta said it had no evidence that its own systems or data were compromised. The incident is the third recent leak or hack involving a government agency. The FBI was reportedly hacked last month, exposing personal information about thousands of agents, and the Federal Election Commission was recently taken offline following a suspected attack. The report places the breach amid growing opposition to the Trump administration’s expanded immigration enforcement. It says ICE operations have repeatedly turned violent, with agents shooting more than two dozen people and killing at least nine this year. The article highlights the deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minnesota, and notes concerns about masked agents who often do not identify themselves. Since Donald Trump returned to office in 2025, nearly one million deportations have occurred, according to the Migration Policy Institute; more than 70% involved people with no criminal record.

Distributed Denial of Secrets (DDoSecrets), a leak-publishing website, says it has released personal and employment information on more than 40,000 U.S. Department of Homeland Security employees. The material reportedly includes names, phone numbers, email addresses, job titles and group memberships across agencies such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. Some records appear to identify personnel assigned to sensitive work, including surveillance, special operations, computer forensics and undercover activities. DHS said it was aware of a potential breach and was working to address it and protect employees, promising to provide more information when available. DDoSecrets co-founder Emma Best said a search tool created by the hacktivist known as maia arson crimew would let the public browse the data. Best argued that the tool could assist journalists, public-records requests and congressional oversight. The group said the data came from an entity calling itself the “Department of Peace,” which framed the release as retaliation for DHS’s access to information about the public and said it hoped the disclosure would limit further harm. The Department of Peace had previously claimed responsibility for hacking DHS and publishing documents about vendor contracts. It said it harvested the employee data from Okta, DHS’s sign-on service. Reuters could not independently corroborate that claim; Okta said its systems were secure and that it had no evidence of compromise. Reuters also could not verify the entire data set, but matched information about six named employees against credit bureau records and breach data, and confirmed details with three DHS employees. One employee said they had not previously heard about a breach. Some information was available on LinkedIn, while other material reportedly disclosed non-public organizational details or previously undisclosed programs and operations. The leak follows other recent government data exposures, including claimed theft of FBI employee information and a breach affecting military personnel.

A hacktivist group calling itself the Department of Peace has allegedly exposed information about more than 41,000 Department of Homeland Security officials. The database appeared late Wednesday on Distributed Denial of Secrets, a nonprofit website that publishes leaked material. The group claims the information came from an Okta single sign-on service used by DHS. CNBC said it accessed the searchable database and saw what appeared to be employee names, offices, contact information, assignments, phone numbers, email addresses, and managers. Distributed Denial of Secrets cautioned that the material was not a comprehensive list of DHS employees. Its cofounder, Emma Best, described the database, named Icepick, as identifying many people involved in DHS policy and operations rather than serving as a directory of all staff. Okta did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment. DHS also did not immediately respond, but told The Washington Post it was aware of a potential breach and working to address it swiftly and effectively. The database appears to include staff from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Customs and Border Protection, and DHS headquarters. The hacker group said it released the information in response to reports that DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin had said ICE would intensify immigration arrests and traffic stops. The article places the alleged breach amid increased opposition to President Donald Trump’s efforts during his second term to expand arrests and deportations of suspected undocumented immigrants. It notes that ICE agents have been documented using physical force during operations. The Migration Policy Institute estimates that DHS completed 980,000 deportations in the first 18 months of Trump’s term.

A nonprofit data-transparency group published information on more than 40,000 US Department of Homeland Security employees, in what the article describes as the third major US government data breach in recent weeks. The records reportedly include names, phone numbers and email addresses of personnel across DHS agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection, US Citizenship and Immigration Services, Homeland Security Investigations and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. Some affected personnel work in surveillance, intelligence and undercover operations. Distributed Denial of Secrets said the data came from an entity calling itself “Department of Peace” and was also provided to journalist and hacktivist maia arson crimew. The group made an online search tool available to sift through the information. Co-founder Emma Best argued that releasing it could help identify personnel involved in deportation and rendition programs, support journalists and enable congressional oversight. Reuters said it confirmed phone numbers and other details by calling three DHS employees identified in the dataset. DHS said it was aware of a potential breach and was working to address it, promising further updates when more information became available. The report places the leak amid an intensified immigration crackdown by the Trump administration, including a September announcement of a “surge in sanctuary cities.” The Migration Policy Institute has reported that DHS arrests and deportations have expanded in recent months. The article also cites two other recent incidents: a class-action lawsuit over a Defense Department breach affecting millions of current and former military personnel, and a September claim by the hacking group ShinyHunters that it had stolen data belonging to thousands of FBI employees.