A hacktivist group has published personal data on 41,000 employees of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), including officials in sensitive roles such as surveillance, undercover work, and human intelligence. The leak was released by the nonprofit transparency organization Distributed Denial of Secrets (DDoSecrets) on October 28, alongside a search tool developed by the hacktivist known as maia arson crimew to allow public access to the data.
The DHS confirmed it was aware of the breach and stated it was actively working to address the situation. In an official statement, the department said it was taking steps to protect its employees and would provide updates as more information became available.
The leaked data includes names, phone numbers, email addresses, and job titles of employees across multiple DHS agencies, such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). The leak also exposed email groups and job assignments, revealing which agents were involved in special operations, surveillance, computer forensics, and undercover work.
DDoSecrets co-founder Emma Best described the leak as an effort to replace anonymity with accountability, stating that the search tool would assist journalists, guide public records requests, and support congressional oversight. The group clarified that the leak was not intended as a comprehensive directory of every DHS agent but rather a targeted disclosure aimed at transparency.
This incident marks the third major government data breach in the past month. In September, the hacking group ShinyHunters claimed responsibility for stealing sensitive data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), including job details and medical records of thousands of employees. Earlier this month, the Department of Defense faced a class action lawsuit following a breach that exposed data on millions of current and former military personnel.
The DHS has not yet specified the method used to obtain the leaked data or the full scope of the breach. The department emphasized that it was prioritizing the protection of its workforce while investigating the incident.