Hackers Expose Records of 41,000 DHS Employees

A hacktivist group known as the Department of Peace has released identifying information for 41,000 Department of Homeland Security employees. The data includes names and details for staff at Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and other agencies. The leak was published online this week after the group claimed credit for subverting DHS internal systems.

The Department of Peace stated it targeted the agency in response to DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin’s July 17 comment about turning up the heat. In an online statement, a spokesperson said, “They have our information, so it’s only fair that we have theirs.” The group coordinated with Distributed Denial of Secrets to post the data to a searchable database called Icepick. Journalist Ryan Ottignon and Swiss activist maia arson crimew also received the files and helped format them for public access.

The hackers said they accessed the data by breaching Okta, the single sign-on platform DHS uses for internal logins. The leaked records show more than 21,000 employees tied to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Another 10,000 records identify ICE employees, with roughly one-third belonging to the Homeland Security Investigations unit. The remaining files cover 6,200 employees from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and nearly 1,000 from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, many of whom are contractors.

The dataset covers about one-seventh of the DHS workforce. It reveals the agency’s internal structure, including permission groups that control access to specific systems. Records show 39 HSI employees across more than a dozen field offices belong to groups labeled “CUC,” which court filings define as certified undercover operations. A separate group in the St. Paul, Minnesota area references “Keyhole,” described in filings as an undercover operation that monitored protest groups earlier this year.

DHS acknowledged the incident in a statement, saying it is aware of a potential breach and is working to address it swiftly. The department added that it is taking steps to ensure all personnel are properly protected. Alexander Leslie, a national security expert at Recorded Future, called the data an extraordinarily valuable intelligence resource. He noted that adversaries could use the information to identify vulnerable personnel or compromise ongoing investigations.

The leak follows a year in which DHS concealed basic identifying information for ICE agents. The newly released files include data on detention contractors and senior leadership. The information was made public through multiple channels, including a dedicated website and direct sharing with media outlets. The Department of Peace said the release was intended to expose the internal workings of the agency that oversees immigration enforcement.