Hackers Leak Contact Details and Work Information for 41,000 Homeland Security Staff

A hacking group calling itself the Department of Peace has stolen and released records covering more than 41,000 Homeland Security employees. The records include email addresses, phone numbers and office addresses, according to Engadget.

The files hold more than contact details. They include sensitive information about DHS undercover and surveillance programs, and they identify staff who work in human intelligence, which means gathering information through people. Reuters reported this. Wired also reported that the material includes the locations of ICE and CBP facilities.

By agency, 21,000 of the records identify people who work with U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Another 10,000 belong to staff at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). About a third of the ICE records relate to Homeland Security Investigations, the unit that runs much of the agency's investigative work.

The hackers gave the data to Distributed Denial of Secrets, a group that publishes leaked material in the public interest, and to a researcher known as maia arson crimew. The researcher built a searchable online database from the records. Distributed Denial of Secrets calls that database "Icepick."

Think of a printed phone book. You can find a name in it, but you have to flip through every page by hand. A searchable database works like a search box. Type in one name, one phone number or one street address, and it returns that person's workplace and job role in seconds. Turning a pile of files into a search box makes the information far easier to misuse.

A Homeland Security spokesperson said the agency is aware of a potential breach and is working to address it. BBC reported on the leak as details of thousands of U.S. immigration agents. The Washington Post and NPR also covered it.

This is not the first time the names of immigration agents have circulated online. In January, a website called ICE List claimed that a DHS whistleblower, meaning an insider who reports wrongdoing, had leaked the identities of 4,500 agents. Police1 reported that the site's founder, who does not live in the United States, said the alleged leak included 2,000 frontline immigration officers. Those claims came from the founder. As far as the reporting shows, they were not linked to the October records. In July 2025, DHS said in a public statement that ICE officers had faced a 700 percent increase in assaults, as family members were doxed, meaning their personal information was published to target them.

The broader context here is practical. Staff lists, facility locations and program details help anyone trying to map how an agency operates. Personal contact details make it possible to reach officers at home.

In my view, the harder question for the agency is not only the breach itself. It is how much staff information can be searched from the outside to begin with. Companies face this problem often, and the usual fixes apply. Staff directories need tighter access limits, published information should be kept to the minimum needed, and systems that hold employee records should be watched for large downloads.

What is still unknown is how the breach happened, which systems were involved, and how far the agency's fix will reach. Those answers will show whether this is a limited exposure or a lasting one.