Hackers leak data on more than 40,000 US Homeland Security employees

A hacker calling themselves Department of Peace stole and published personally identifiable information belonging to more than 40,000 employees of the US Department of Homeland Security earlier this year. The data includes names, job titles, email addresses, cell phone numbers, and office locations for staff across several federal agencies.

More than half of the records, about 21,000, belong to employees of Customs and Border Protection who work at airports and other ports of entry. Another 10,000 records relate to Immigration and Customs Enforcement and its Homeland Security Investigations unit, while nearly 1,000 records involve staff at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

“They have our information, so it's only fair that we have theirs.”

The remaining records cover employees at the department's headquarters and other components, including Citizenship and Immigration Services and the Federal Protective Service. The leaked material also contains IT and login records showing which internal systems and apps each employee is permitted to access.

Distributed Denial of Secrets released the data on Wednesday and said it obtained the information from an entity calling itself Department of Peace. The nonprofit group's co-founder Emma Best said hacktivist Maia Arson Crimew developed a search tool that lets the public browse the data.

Homeland Security said it is aware of a potential breach and is working to address the situation swiftly and effectively. The agency said it would update the public when more information is available.

The Department of Peace left a note with the data stating that DHS employees have the hackers' information, so it is only fair that the hackers have theirs. The hacker did not respond to requests for comment.

This leak follows recent incidents involving the theft of thousands of FBI agents' personnel records and a breach exposing data on millions of current and former military personnel from the Defense Department.