The Aporia · DHS cites risk to more than 40,000 personnel in effort to take leaked data offline

DHS cites risk to more than 40,000 personnel in effort to take leaked data offline

Read the original at The Guardian ↗

Cite

APA MLA Chicago

Singh, M. (2026, October 29). DHS cites risk to more than 40,000 personnel in effort to take leaked data offline. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/oct/29/dhs-personnel-data-leak

Dated from the outlet's own feed. Check the original for its byline.

Quick Summary

On Thursday, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) requested an Icelandic hosting company, FlokiNET, to remove or limit access to a database containing information about over 40,000 DHS personnel, citing potential risks such as harassment and physical harm. ZeroFox, authorized by ICE for content removal actions, made this request. However, FlokiNET declined the request due to concerns that the data included work addresses and phone numbers rather than personal details. The non-profit DDoSecrets had released the database on Wednesday.

Written by AI on 2026-10-29, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

On October 28, 2026, the leak website Distributed Denial of Secrets released data on more than 41,000 personnel from the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), including thousands involved in immigration enforcement like ICE and CBP. The leaked information includes names, work addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses of DHS staff. The hacktivist group "The Department of Peace" claimed responsibility, arguing that since government employees have their data, it is fair to share theirs. DHS has started an investigation into the breach, while some hackers are developing search tools for public use. The Icelandic hosting company FlokiNET received a request from DHS to take down or limit access to this information due to security risks, but decided against it.

Written for “DHS Data Breach Exposes Employees” on 2026-11-04, grounded in this article and the 11 other(s) covering the same event.

Compared with similar articles

How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted

sentences that state something as happening or true

Uncertain

10%

1 of 10 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")

Leaning

Centre

of the writing, not the subject · beta estimate

Publisher signals

66/100

The Guardian's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.

Outlets on this story

Politics

Same framing elsewhere

articles that frame the event the way this one does

Analyzed 2026-10-29 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability

Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

The Guardian · 1995 article(s) · 6 correction(s) detected

Running correction rate · 6 correction(s)

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Who wrote this

Maanvi Singh

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Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.

All 8 articles by Maanvi Singh →

Topics

DHS FlokiNET Icelandic The US ZeroFox

Subjects

DHS ORG · 7× FlokiNET ORG · 3× DDoSecrets ORG · 1× ICE ORG · 1× Icelandic NORP · 1× Immigration and Customs Enforcement ORG · 1× Kolja Weber PERSON · 1× Reuters ORG · 1× The US ORG · 1× ZeroFox ORG · 1×

Narrative

A group calling itself “the Department of Peace” claimed responsibility for obtaining the data, and said in a statement on Wednesday that DHS employees “have our information, so it’s only fair that we have theirs” and that it hoped the data “can be used to limit further harm by the DHS and supports all efforts in that direction”.

framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-29

2026-10-29 · The Guardian

DHS cites risk to more than 40,000 personnel in effort to take leaked data offline · assertive framing

Claims (10 extracted, 1 hedged)

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) asked an Icelandic hosting company on Thursday to take down or limit access to data related to thousands of agency personnel, saying the content put them at risk, according to the request posted online by hosting company FlokiNET. uncertain

content → ask → FlokiNET

The database “places more than 40,000 identifiable individuals at risk of harassment, stalking and physical harm”, the request said. asserted

request → place → harassment

ZeroFox, a company authorized by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency to pursue content removal actions, cited the figure in an email to FlokiNET. asserted

ZeroFox → authorize → FlokiNET

FlokiNET’s CEO, Kolja Weber, told Reuters that his company would not remove the DHS data because it included government employee work addresses and work phone numbers, not personal phone numbers and addresses. asserted

it → tell → addresses

A DHS spokesperson said the agency “is aware of a potential breach and is actively working to address the situation swiftly and effectively. asserted

agency → say → situation

We take all security threats against our employees and officers seriously and will work to ensure all are properly protected.” asserted

all → take → employees

The non-profit data transparency group DDoSecrets released data on more than 40,000 DHS personnel on its website on Wednesday, alongside a separate, searchable database developed by hacker and journalist “maia arson crimew”. asserted

group → release → crimew

The database was briefly inaccessible on Thursday but was soon republished at a different domain. asserted

database → republish → domain

data → call → direction

Privacy advocates have criticized the DHS’s use of personal data from other agencies, including Medicaid records and taxpayer data, for immigration enforcement. asserted

advocates → criticize → enforcement