Over 40,000 DHS Employees' Details Exposed in 'Icepick' Leak Including Undercover Personnel: DHS Says It Is Addressing a Potential Breach
A hacking group cracked the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's personnel files, exposing the names, phone numbers and addresses of more than 40,000 DHS agents, operatives and associates on October 28, including those involved in undercover operations, NPR reported on October 28.
According to NPR, the hacktivist group calling itself the Department of Peace said it stole the data by subverting the DHS single sign-on system, and distributed the material to Distributed Denial of Secrets, which posted it online in a database called Icepick. The group also shared the trove with U.S.-based journalist Ryan Ottignon and a Swiss hacker known as maia arson crimew, who together created a searchable online database. The claimed entry path is the hackers' account.
More than 21,000 of the records identify employees of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and another 10,000 relate to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) employees and its Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) unit. NPR described it as an unprecedented breach of intelligence, coming on the heels of similar hacking attacks at the FBI, and noted the database is far from comprehensive, representing about a fifth of the DHS workforce of a little more than 220,000 people.
In a statement, DHS said it was “aware of a potential breach and is actively working to address the situation swiftly and effectively,” and added that it is taking necessary steps to “ensure all are properly protected.”
DDoSecrets cofounder Emma Best called the leak “extraordinary but deceptive in its simplicity,” because it makes explicit connections between officials responsible for overseeing covert and undercover operations and key personnel in DHS's rendition and deportation programs. A spokesperson for the hacktivist group linked the action in an online statement to DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin's July 17 pledge to “turn up the heat.” A note attached to the files read: “They have our information, so it's only fair that we have theirs.”
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 美国国土安全部总部航拍（资料图，美国海岸警卫队 Senior Chief Petty Officer Michael Hvozda，公共领域）
