DHS investigates potential breach exposing over 41,000 employee details

Distributed Denial of Secrets said on Wednesday that it had published data on more than 40,000 Department of Homeland Security employees, including officials working in sensitive areas such as surveillance and human intelligence.

DHS in a statement to Reuters, said it was "aware of a potential breach and is actively working to address the situation swiftly and effectively." The agency said it was working to ensure its employees were properly protected and would update ​the public "when more information is available.”

The disclosure — which the nonprofit data transparency group says draws on information obtained by an entity ​calling itself "Department of Peace" — is the third major government data leak to have made headlines in the past ⁠month.

The DHS data includes names, phone numbers and email addresses of employees from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection, Homeland Security Investigations, the Cybersecurity, and Infrastructure Security Agency, and other DHS component agencies, the report said.

Also included in the data were job titles and email groups, which, among ​other details, showed which agents were assigned to special operations, surveillance jobs, computer forensics, and undercover work.

In a statement, Distributed Denial of Secrets co-founder ​Emma Best said the hacktivist and journalist known as "maia arson crimew" developed a tool for the data that would allow the public to browse it. Best ‌said the ⁠tool would "replace anonymity with accountability" and empower journalists, guide public records requests and boost congressional oversight. Crimew said her tool would provide "FOIA material for years to come!"

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