Leak website releases data on thousands of US Homeland Security employees

WASHINGTON, USA – The leak website Distributed Denial of Secrets said on Wednesday, October 28, it has released data on more than 40,000 Department of Homeland Security employees, including details about officials working in sensitive fields such as surveillance and human intelligence. DHS said in a statement it was “aware of a potential breach and is actively working to address the situation swiftly and effectively. ” The agency said it was working to ensure its employees were properly protected and would update the public “when more information is available. ” The disclosure — which the nonprofit data transparency group says draws on information obtained by an entity calling itself “Department of Peace” — is the third major government data leak to have made headlines in the past month.

In September, the hacking group ShinyHunters claimed the theft of a massive trove of data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, including sensitive job details and medical information from thousands of bureau employees. Last week, the Defense Department was hit with a class action lawsuit following a breach that exposed data on millions of current and former military personnel. The DHS data includes names, phone numbers and email addresses of employees from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection, Homeland Security Investigations, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and other DHS component agencies. Also included in the data were job titles and email groups, which, among other details, showed which agents were assigned to special operations, surveillance jobs, computer forensics and undercover work. In a statement, Distributed Denial of Secrets co-founder Emma Best said the hacktivist and journalist known as “maia arson crimew” developed a…