The Department of Homeland Security confirmed it is responding to the security breach to protect impacted personnel after their names, phone numbers, and addresses were published online. The stolen data was transferred to Distributed Denial of Secrets, which hosted the files in a database labeled Icepick, and was also used to build a searchable tool. The leak covers more than 21,000 files from U.S. Customs and Border Protection as well as roughly 10,000 files from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Homeland Security Investigations. DHS stated it is actively working to address the intrusion following earlier cyberattacks directed at the FBI.
Key points
The exposed records represent approximately one-fifth of the federal agency's total workf…: The exposed records represent approximately one-fifth of the federal agency's total workforce of over 220,000 employees.
Distributed Denial of Secrets and independent researchers published the leaked files into…: Distributed Denial of Secrets and independent researchers published the leaked files into searchable databases for public access.
Federal officials are actively working to address the incident and safeguard the thousand…: Federal officials are actively working to address the incident and safeguard the thousands of personnel compromised by the breach.
Sources checked by our analysis pipeline: 1
Hackers expose the identities of more than 40,000 DHS employees
By Vanessa Romo
Wednesday, October 28, 2026 • 11:28 PM EDT
Heard on Morning Edition
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 Wednesday, including those involved in undercover operations.
"On July 17th, Markwayne Mullin said he was 'turning up the heat.' This is what happens to ICE when you do that," a spokesperson for the hacktivist group behind the breach, the Department of Peace, said in an online statement.
The hackers said they stole the data by subverting DHS's single sign on system, according to an online post. It said it distributed that material to the group Distributed Denial of Secrets, which posted it online in a database called Icepick. The Department of Peace also shared the trove of data with Ryan Ottignon, a U.S.-based journalist, and a Swiss hacker known as maia arson crimew. Together, the two created a searchable online database, with crimew doing all of…
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