Third Largest Government Leak: Website Publishes Data on More Than 40,000 US Homeland Security Employees

The information-leaking website "Distributed Denial of Secrets" revealed on Wednesday that it had published data concerning more than 40,000 employees of the Department of Homeland Security, including details about officials working in sensitive fields such as surveillance and human intelligence.

This disclosure, which the non-profit site says is based on information obtained by an entity calling itself the "Ministry of Peace," represents the third largest leak of government data to make headlines in the past month.

In a statement attached to the leaked data, the "Ministry of Peace" said that Department of Homeland Security employees "have our information, so it is fair that we have theirs."

The "Ministry of Peace" expressed hope in its statement that the data would be used "to limit further harm that the department may cause and to support all efforts aimed at doing so."

The Department of Homeland Security data includes employee names, phone numbers, and email addresses from agencies such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection, the Office of Investigations, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, among others.

The leaked data also included job titles and email groups, details that revealed, among other things, agents assigned to special operations, surveillance tasks, digital criminal investigations, and undercover work.

It is noted that in March, the "Ministry of Peace" had also claimed responsibility for hacking the Department of Homeland Security and publishing documents related to contracts with external providers.

Commenting on news of these leaks, the US Department of Homeland Security stated in a release that it was "aware of the potential breach and is working hard to address the situation quickly and efficiently," noting that it is ensuring appropriate protection for its staff and will update the public "as more information becomes available."

The hacker group "Shiny Hunters" announced in September that they had "stolen a massive amount of data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), including sensitive employment details and medical information pertaining to thousands of employees."

Last week, the Department of War (the Pentagon) faced a class-action lawsuit following a hack that exposed data relating to millions of current and former military personnel.