Hackers identify thousands of Department of Homeland Security employees in massive data breach

An activist group published a searchable database of more than 41,000 Department of Homeland Security employees and contractors on Wednesday, exposing the identities and contact information for immigration officers, border agents and undercover investigators, according to documents posted online.

A “hacktivist” group that calls itself the Department of Peace said online that it gained access to secure DHS databases through the single sign-on service that agency employees use to log into internal systems.

The group shared the records with the nonprofit group Distributed Denial of Secrets and a Swiss hacker whose online identity is maia arson crimew. The Swiss hacker then created a searchable online database that includes “employee names, offices, contact information, and assignments,” the nonprofit said.

The Washington Post viewed the contents of the database and verified its authenticity with current and former DHS officials.

DHS said Wednesday night that it was “aware of a potential breach” and was “working to address the situation swiftly and effectively.”

“We take all security threats against our employees and officers seriously and will work to ensure all are properly protected. We will update the public when more information is available,” the agency’s statement said.

Material posted online by the hacker group said its goal is to increase oversight and transparency of DHS.

The agency has become a focal point of President Donald Trump’s mass-deportation agenda over the past 21 months, smashing car windows and fanning out near homes, courthouses, workplaces and other public areas to detain people they suspect of being in the country unlawfully. Several immigrants and U.S. citizens have been shot, and some killed, by officers in the enforcement operations, which at times have drawn large protests.

Agents and officers have been criticized for wearing masks and plainclothes. Homeland Security officials have defended the masking, saying officers and their families have been assaulted, stalked and threatened with death.

“On July 17th, Markwayne Mullin said he was ‘turning up the heat,’” said a statement from the hacker group that was posted along with the materials and referred to the Homeland Security secretary by name. “This is what happens to ICE when you do that.”

Current and former DHS officials said the exposure appeared to be unprecedented in the history of the agency.

John Sandweg, an acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement director during the Obama administration, called the leak a “nightmare scenario.” Disclosing the names of officers and agents puts them “in great jeopardy,” he said, and could endanger criminal investigations into gangs and drug cartels.

“I feel terrible for the agents and their families,” Sandweg said. “The array of threats they face as a result of this is stunning.”

A former ICE official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss agency communications, said ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations intelligence unit issued a bulletin to agents alerting them about the hack.

But multiple ICE officers and Customs and Border Protection agents reached by The Post in Tucson, Philadelphia, and East Texas, using contact information provided in the data leak, said they had not yet been informed about the incident.

Public backlash against Trump’s orders to deport millions of undocumented immigrants has been fierce and has included some attacks on officers. In response, DHS personnel began wearing masks last year to hide their identities.

The breach comes weeks after another hacking group claimed to have stolen thousands of FBI employee records, raising concerns that it may have exposed that workforce to potential threats by revealing home addresses and other personal details to to foreign intelligence services and criminal groups.

ICE and other agencies have long declined to publish all the names of their employees for national security reasons. But advocacy groups and hackers have pushed back against that secrecy, saying it shields officers with troubled backgrounds and prevents the public from holding them accountable for alleged misconduct.

The groups that posted the DHS database called it “Icepick” and said it provided a first look ever into DHS’s organizational structure and will enable the public to research the backgrounds of individual agents and officers.

“Rather than an indiscriminate directory of every DHS employee, Icepick identifies many of the architects and drivers of DHS policy and operations,” Emma Best, co-founder of Distributed Denial of Secrets, said in a statement posted online.

She said the leak “identifies the officials responsible for overseeing covert and undercover operations, the government’s hunt for leakers and the failed BlueLeaks investigation - along with key personnel in DHS’s ever-escalating rendition and deportation programs.”

The group said its database does not include a full list of all DHS employees and may contain inaccuracies. It does include employees from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and Customs and Border Protection.