DHS seeks removal of leaked records covering more than 40,000 personnel
publishers 21articles 22first reported 28 Oct, 20:46 UTCdeveloping since 29 Oct · 3 editions
The Department of Homeland Security sought to restrict access to leaked records covering more than 40,000 employees and contractors after the data was published Wednesday by the nonprofit Distributed Denial of Secrets.
The records include names, phone numbers, email addresses, job titles and internal group memberships across agencies including Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection, Homeland Security Investigations and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. Some entries identify personnel assigned to surveillance, undercover operations, computer forensics and other specialized work.
A group calling itself the Department of Peace claimed responsibility for obtaining the data. DDoSecrets said the information was harvested from DHS’s Okta sign-on service, but Reuters could not corroborate that account. Okta said it had no evidence that its systems or data were compromised. Reuters verified information associated with several employees but could not authenticate the entire collection.
DHS said it was aware of a potential breach and was working to protect personnel. In a removal request to Icelandic hosting company FlokiNET, a contractor authorized by ICE said the database exposed more than 40,000 people to possible harassment, stalking and physical harm. FlokiNET declined to remove it, saying it contained work contact details rather than home addresses or personal phone numbers.
Bluesky separately blocked links to the archive under rules against sharing contact information without authorization, while leaving posts discussing the leak online. A searchable version of the database was briefly unavailable Thursday before reappearing under another domain.
HOW THIS STORY WAS MADE
Written from 8 articles, 4 with the publisher's own text; 8 independent newsrooms once syndicated copies count as one; this version written 24 h after the record first saw the story; the editor kept it as written.
- Publishers
- 21
- Source articles
- 22
- Given to the writer
- 8, 4 with the article's own text
- Independent newsrooms
- 8
- This version written
- 24 h after the record first saw the story
- Second model (editor)
- kept as written
- Publication gate
- passed
- Human review
- none
WHAT THE EDITOR DID
The second model checked the writer's draft against the same sources and published it as written.
Written by a language model from the sources above, then checked by a second model that may only cut, attribute or correct. How it works →