U.S. Homeland Security Asks Icelandic Host to Remove Leaked Staff Data
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the federal agency whose components include Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), has asked an Icelandic web hosting company to take down a site containing information about tens of thousands of its employees. Al Jazeera reported the request on October 29, 2026.
The request arrived in a letter from ZeroFox, a cybersecurity firm acting on DHS's behalf. The letter accused the hosting company, FlokiNET, of breaking its terms of service by publishing a "stolen" employee dataset, and asked it to remove or disable the information. It also stated that the content places more than 40,000 identifiable individuals at risk of harassment, stalking and physical harm.
FlokiNET said the request concerned the domain icepi.cx, which compiled information about employees from DHS agencies including ICE and CBP. The company refused to comply. The domain's registrar later suspended it, and the employee information moved to a different domain.
FlokiNET defended its decision in indirect terms, saying that federal officers carrying out an enforcement program are not private individuals, and that the public has a legitimate interest in knowing who is doing that work. The company describes its mission on its website as providing a safe environment for free speech, a free press and whistleblowers.
The database was first posted online by Distributed Denial of Secrets, a group that publishes leaked government data. NPR reported that the group said its unmasking covered ICE agents, DHS operatives and contractors. A hacker group calling itself the "Department of Peace" claimed responsibility for obtaining and sharing the DHS data.
According to The Washington Post, more than 41,000 personnel at ICE, CBP and other DHS agencies had their names leaked online, and the data included some undercover investigators. Reuters reported on October 28 that the leak website had released data on tens of thousands of DHS employees.
Politico reported that the Trump administration took action on Wednesday evening to block a database containing personal information on more than 40,000 Department personnel. Politico did not describe the outcome of that action in the material cited here, and the domain moves described above are the latest reported developments in the dispute over the data.
