Personal details belonging to more than 41,000 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) employees, including thousands working for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), have been leaked online. The exposed information reportedly includes employees’ names, work addresses, phone numbers, agency roles and descriptions of their work.
The breach, reported on Wednesday, is the third recent incident targeting a U.S. government agency. A DHS spokesperson said the department was “aware of the potential violation” and was working to address it.
“We take any security threats to our employees or officers seriously and are committed to ensuring that everyone is appropriately protected,” the spokesperson added. “We will update the public as more information becomes available.”
What the DHS data leak contains
The information was reportedly accessed by a group called the Department of Peace and published online by journalist and cybersecurity researcher Maia Kleim through the website Decentralized Secret Denial. The data was stored in a database named Icepick.
According to the leaked data, more than 21,000 of the listed employees work for CBP, while approximately 6,600 work for ICE. Other records reportedly involve employees of Homeland Security Investigations, the Federal Protective Service and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
The leak also includes the names of dozens of previously unknown operations, the agents who led or participated in them, and some of the technology used in their work. The listed tools include technology supplied by Cellebrite and Palantir.
In an online statement, the group said the leak was not intended to serve as a directory of all DHS employees. Instead, it said its goal was to “replace anonymity with accountability,” according to DDoSecrets co-founder Emma Best.
“This leak is unusual, but deceptive in its simplicity, as it identifies covert operations, covert operations, government manhunts for leakers, those responsible for overseeing the failed Blue Leaks investigation, and key players in DHS’s escalating extradition and deportation program,” Best said.
BlueLeaks refers to a major 2020 breach of U.S. police data that was also hosted by DDoSecrets.
How the group says it accessed the records
A Department of Peace spokesperson linked the disclosure to ICE agents’ actions against groups that have targeted DHS records.
“On July 17, Mr. Markwayne Mullin said he was ‘raising the heat’ and that’s what happens to ICE when you do that,” the spokesperson wrote on Wednesday.
Mullin became Secretary of Homeland Security in March.
The Department of Peace said it accessed the DHS employee profiles through Okta, a single sign-on service used by organizations to control access to internal platforms.
Okta said it was aware of the allegations but denied that its systems had been breached. “Okta is secure and there is no evidence that our data or systems have been compromised,” an Okta spokesperson said.
Other recent government cybersecurity incidents
The disclosure follows several other attacks involving U.S. government agencies. Last month, the FBI was hacked by a group called ShinyHunters, which reportedly stole the personal information of thousands of agents.
More recently, the Federal Election Commission, which publishes political campaign donation data, was taken offline because of an alleged hack.
Leak comes amid opposition to immigration enforcement
The DHS disclosure comes as public opposition to U.S. immigration enforcement grows while the Trump administration pushes for a significant increase in arrests and deportations of people suspected of entering the country illegally.
Immigration operations this year have repeatedly become violent. ICE agents opened fire on more than 20 people, killing at least nine, according to the source.
Those deaths include Alex Preti and Renee Good, who were shot and killed by ICE agents in Minnesota this year despite not being subject to arrest.
In many cases, ICE officers conduct enforcement operations while wearing masks and sunglasses. Immigration officials rarely identify themselves, even though the law requires them to do so. U.S. politicians have also officially requested that DHS enforce this requirement.
Since President Donald Trump returned to office in 2025, the United States has deported nearly 1 million people, according to data from the Migration Policy Institute. More than 70% of those deportees had no criminal record.
Source: www.bbc.co.uk