Homeland Security staff records exposed after non-profit posts data on 40,000 workers

A transparency organization has published personal and professional records belonging to tens of thousands of federal personnel, marking another major release of government records in recent weeks.

The non-profit collective Distributed Denial of Secrets announced on Wednesday that it had published details covering more than 40,000 employees at the Department of Homeland Security. The compromised records feature staff across multiple divisions, including Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and Homeland Security Investigations.

According to the group, the published files include names, contact phone numbers, and email addresses. The leak also contains job designations and internal email list information that identify agents assigned to sensitive areas, including undercover assignments, digital forensics, surveillance tasks, and specialized operations. DHS did not immediately provide a response to inquiries regarding the release.

Distributed Denial of Secrets attributed the acquisition of the files to an entity operating under the name Department of Peace. Emma Best, a co-founder of the transparency organization, stated that an activist known as maia arson crimew created a searchable interface to make the files accessible to the public, aiming to assist oversight, investigative reporting, and official records inquiries.

In remarks accompanying the release, the Department of Peace argued that the public should have access to agency staff information because personnel hold extensive records on private citizens, adding that it hoped the disclosure would restrict future harms by the department. The same group previously claimed to have breached DHS files regarding vendor agreements earlier this year.

Best indicated that the data originated from DHS's use of Okta's single sign-on platform. However, Okta rejected this assertion, stating that its infrastructure remains secure and that it has detected no evidence showing its systems were breached.

Reporters confirmed the accuracy of select records by verifying names and phone numbers with credit reporting files, threat monitoring services, and direct telephone contact with listed personnel. While portions of the records mirror public career profiles, other sections expose confidential organizational structures and previously unpublicized operations.

The incident is the third prominent disclosure involving federal records in the past month. In September, the cyber group ShinyHunters asserted it had obtained medical and employment records concerning thousands of FBI personnel. Meanwhile, the Department of Defense was recently named in a class-action lawsuit following a separate data security incident affecting millions of current and former service members.