Hack Exposes Records of 40,000-Plus DHS Workers

From the HERE City National Desk

WASHINGTON — The Department of Homeland Security is working to contain what appears to be one of the largest exposures of federal workforce data in years, after a hacktivist group released a searchable trove of records on more than 40,000 of its employees and contractors on Wednesday.

The files list names, job titles, work phone numbers, email addresses and office locations, and some entries describe sensitive assignments, including undercover work, surveillance and computer forensics. The group behind the release, which calls itself the Department of Peace, said it acted in opposition to the administration’s immigration enforcement push.

Customs and Border Protection staff make up the largest share, with more than 21,000 records. Roughly 10,000 belong to ICE workers, a group that includes agents from the agency’s investigative arm. The cyber defense agency known as CISA and several other DHS offices also appear in the files.

The group claims it got in through the single sign-on service DHS employees use to reach multiple workplace applications with one login. The company that provides that identity service, Okta, said it has found no sign that its own systems or data were compromised. A transparency group that received the material from the hackers made it public as a searchable database named Icepick.

DHS said in a statement that it is aware of a potential breach and is moving quickly to address it and to make sure its people are protected. The department did not say how many of the records are current or how the data was taken.

Even at that size, the leak covers only a fraction of the department, which employs a little more than 220,000 people. Security experts worry that exposed contact details for immigration and border agents, especially those in undercover roles, could put workers at risk and give foreign intelligence services a detailed map of how the agency is organized.

Filed under: Washington DC Business News