Leak Exposes Data on 40K DHS Employees, Agents
The Facts
- Distributed Denial of Secrets (DDoSecrets), a nonprofit that publishes leaked data, said Wednesday that it released records on more than 40,000 U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) employees, including officials working in sensitive fields such as surveillance and human intelligence.
- The Department of Peace, the hacktivist group that gave DDoSecrets the data and claims to have carried out the breach, said it reached DHS data through a compromised Okta single sign-on account. Okta said it is "secure" and has "no evidence" that its data or systems were compromised.
- The Department of Peace shared the data with Ryan Ottignon, a U.S.-based journalist, and a Swiss hacktivist known as maia arson crimew, who then created a searchable online database of DHS employees' information. DDoSecrets co-founder Emma Best said a search tool built for the data would "replace anonymity with accountability."
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The Spin
Pro-establishment narrative
Doxxing federal officers and their families amounts to intimidation and puts real lives at risk. Officers already facing skyrocketing threats and assaults now have names, work locations and phone numbers handed to anyone itching for violence. Framing that as fairness does nothing to excuse an effort to terrorize people for doing a dangerous job.
Establishment-critical narrative
An agency that vacuums up data on ordinary people yet can't safeguard its own staff list has no standing to lecture anyone about security. Transparency about who carries out raids, surveillance and detentions is basic accountability when enforcement power operates in the shadows. Three federal leaks in one month point to rot in government cybersecurity that outrage won't patch.
