A hacker known as Department of Peace
leaked details of over 40,000 U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) employees, including immigration agents, according to TechCrunch. The breach involved names, contact info, and job titles from an Okta single sign-on system.
The leak, disclosed by TechCrunch, revealed personally identifiable information for more than 41,000 DHS staff, including U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. The data was stolen from an Okta system used for employee logins, according to the hacker’s claim. The dataset contained names, job titles, and work contact details, such as email addresses, mobile numbers, and office locations, of over 40,000 individuals employed by the federal agency, including border and immigration agents, cybersecurity personnel, and senior officials within the department.
Scope of the Breach
User groups also encompass employees linked to ChatGPT access, such as senior DHS officials, along with additional groups involved in investigations targeting China-backed hacking entities referred to as Salt Typhoon and Volt Typhoon. The dataset further highlights the surveillance technologies and cybersecurity tools accessible to Homeland Security staff. Penlink, a surveillance tech firm, was also linked to user groups, with contracts dating back years.
Unanswered Questions
This marks the most recent data breach affecting the U.S. government in recent months, following prior incidents that involved the unauthorized acquisition of thousands of FBI agents’ personnel files and the personal data of millions of active and former military personnel from the Pentagon’s HR division. It also represents the second breach impacting Homeland Security this year, following the same hacker’s assertion of having obtained thousands of agreements between the department and private entities, including defense contractors and surveillance providers.