Hacktivists have published data on more than 41,000 federal employees, including those involved in immigration enforcement, following a data breach at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
The leak led DHS to ask the hosting company to remove the unauthorized content, saying it puts federal employees at risk.
DHS data breach exposes ICE agents’ information
The breach exposed the names, work addresses, phone numbers, and job descriptions for various DHS employees, including those working for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
Approximately 21,000 ICE agents and 6,600 CBP employees were exposed in the leak. Others included people working for Homeland Security Investigations, Federal Protective Service, and even the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).
The breach also exposed work details, including job titles, agents assigned to various special and undercover operations, surveillance, and computer forensics, as well as the tools used, including Cellebrite and Palantir.
Hacktivists calling themselves the “Department of Peace” obtained the information, and the non-profit group Distributed Denial of Secrets (DDoSecrets) published it online. Journalist and hacker “maia arson crimew” also developed a searchable database called Icepick. The Department of Peace claims to have obtained the information by exploiting Okta, a single sign-on provider used by DHS and many other organizations.
Meanwhile, Okta says it was aware of the hacktivists’ data breach claims, but its systems were secure, and it has no evidence its platform was compromised.
Hacktivists refuse to remove ICE data
The DHS has asked the Icelandic hosting company FlokiNET to remove the unauthorized content, saying it puts the federal employees at risk of stalking, harassment, and physical harm.
The agency reports a 1,347% increase in physical assaults against ICE agents and a 3,200% increase in vehicular attacks between 2024 and 2026. It also claims that death threats against its ICE employees recorded an 8,000% increase during the same period.
Similarly, immigration enforcement actions have resulted in the shooting of over a dozen individuals, resulting in at least nine fatalities.
Nevertheless, FlokiNET has refused to remove the leaked data, claiming it does not include personal information, as it exposed the agents’ official government contact information. Emma Best, a Department of Peace co-founder, also says the data breach was not intended to expose federal employees but to replace anonymity with accountability.
“Rather than an indiscriminate directory of every DHS employee, Icepick identifies many of the architects and drivers of DHS policy and operations,” said Best.
While the hacktivists claim no personal information was exposed, the data breach puts federal agents at risk of targeted phishing, which could compromise government systems and ultimately expose citizens’ personal information collected and stored by the DHS. According to the hacktivists, DHS employees “have our information, so it’s only fair that we have theirs.”
Meanwhile, President Trump’s Border Czar Tom Homan stated, “ICE agents are mothers and fathers, too. They have families, too,” adding “They don’t hang their heart on a hook when they come into work. They got a difficult job, a dangerous job.”
A DHS spokesperson has also acknowledged the breach and said the agency is working swiftly to address it and would provide updates “when more information is available.”
“We take all security threats against our employees and officers seriously and will work to ensure all are properly protected,” the spokesperson said.
Federal government agencies have previously experienced data hacks. In October 2026, the FBI suffered a targeted data breach after the hacking group ShinyHunters compromised the law enforcement agency in retaliation for describing it as a mass cyber extortion operation.
