Hacker Steals Personal Data of More Than 41,000 DHS Employees
The attacker accessed records through Okta, including about 21,000 CBP and nearly 7,000 ICE employees, alongside data from CISA, USCIS and HSI. The leak also maps staff to surveillance tools such as Mobile Fortify and PenLink.
A hacker has stolen personal information belonging to more than 41,000 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) employees, exposing names, job titles, phone numbers, email addresses, and office locations of staff across several federal agencies, according to reports from TechCrunch and Wired published in October 2026.
The breach was carried out by a hacker using the name “Department of Peace,” who gained access to the data through Okta, an identity and access management service used by the DHS. Approximately 21,000 records belong to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) employees, while nearly 7,000 are linked to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) staff. Records from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) are also included in the breach.
The stolen data was reportedly passed to hacktivist maia arson crimew, who then shared it with Distributed Denial of Secrets (DDoSecrets), a nonprofit organization now hosting the leaked dataset under the name “Icepick.”
Beyond employee contact details, the leak reportedly identifies DHS groups with access to specific surveillance tools, including the facial recognition app Mobile Fortify and PenLink, a platform capable of collecting and analyzing data from phones and online services. This connection between agency personnel and surveillance capabilities may raise additional concerns about the scope of the exposed information.
The DHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The breach could expose thousands of federal employees to targeted phishing, harassment, or other security risks, and the disclosure of surveillance tool access may draw further scrutiny to the agencies involved.