Details of thousands of US immigration agents leaked in major hack
Details of more than 41,000 personnel working for the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), including thousands involved in immigration enforcement, have been leaked to the public.
Details of more than 41,000 personnel working for the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), including thousands involved in immigration enforcement, have been leaked to the public.
The leak includes names, work addresses, and phone numbers of DHS staff, including agents working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection, along with descriptions of the work that they do for each agency.
Wednesday's leak marks the third time in recent weeks that a government agency has been targeted in leaks or hacks.
Rather the aim was to replace anonymity with accountability, according to Emma Best, a co founder of DDoSecrets.
In recent days, the Federal Election Commission, which makes public political campaign donation data, was taken offline because of a suspected hacking attempt.
The information was put in a database named Icepick and shared through a website hosted by Distributed Denial of Secrets.
The Department of Peace said on Wednesday that it accessed the DHS agent profiles through a single sign-on service called Okta.
Okta is a popular online security tool that organisations use to ensure that only people with access to internal platforms are logging on to them.
What happened
Details of more than 41,000 personnel working for the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), including thousands involved in immigration enforcement, have been leaked to the public.
The leak includes names, work addresses, and phone numbers of DHS staff, including agents working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection, along with descriptions of the work that they do for each agency.
Wednesday's leak marks the third time in recent weeks that a government agency has been targeted in leaks or hacks.
What changed
Rather the aim was to replace anonymity with accountability, according to Emma Best, a co founder of DDoSecrets.
In recent days, the Federal Election Commission, which makes public political campaign donation data, was taken offline because of a suspected hacking attempt.
Who is affected
The information was put in a database named Icepick and shared through a website hosted by Distributed Denial of Secrets.
Why it matters
The Department of Peace said on Wednesday that it accessed the DHS agent profiles through a single sign-on service called Okta.
Okta is a popular online security tool that organisations use to ensure that only people with access to internal platforms are logging on to them.
Attribution
BBC News: Details of more than 41,000 personnel working for the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), including thousands involved in immigration enforcement, have been leaked to the public.
What to watch next
Watch for additional victim details, indicators of compromise and follow-on exploitation reports.