Security News

Hacktivists Leak Data on More Than 41,000 US Homeland Security Staff and Contractors

CyberScoop · 29 Oct 2026

Key Takeaway Because staff directories held in single sign-on systems can be a valuable target, Australian small businesses should secure their identity accounts with multi-factor authentication, limit who can access user lists, and review these accounts regularly.

A leak website published on Wednesday exposes internal data on more than 41,000 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) employees and contractors. The data was reportedly obtained by a hacktivist group called the Department of Peace, which claims it breached an identity service used by the agency. The transparency nonprofit Distributed Denial of Secrets and the hacker maia arson crimew received the data from the group, and crimew built a search tool for it.

The group said it took the database from an Okta single sign-on service used at DHS. Okta said it was aware of the report, but stated: "Okta is secure, and we have no evidence our data or systems were compromised." DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment. CyberScoop verified that numerous current Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency employees appear in the data, along with some former leaders who left years ago. The records go back years and include group names referring to COVID-19 planning and 2023 internal summits.

The hacktivists said the breach was a response to a promise of stepped-up Immigrations and Customs Enforcement operations by DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin. Emma Best of DDoSecrets said the leak identifies officials overseeing sensitive programs, while crimew said it shows which people do what work across multiple DHS agencies. One researcher said it could prove valuable for Freedom of Information Act requests. How the data was obtained remains disputed.

data breach hacktivism Okta identity security DHS

Summarised by CISO AI from CyberScoop, written with Claude Sonnet 5.5. We link back to every original so you can read it yourself.