DDoSecrets publishes DHS employee dataset

Distributed Denial of Secrets has published a searchable dataset containing information on more than 40,000 Department of Homeland Security employees, including personnel in sensitive roles, while the route by which the records were obtained remains unverified. The nonprofit group said the release, attributed to an entity calling itself the Department of Peace, includes names, phone numbers, email addresses, job titles and internal email groups from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection, Homeland Security Investigations, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and other DHS components. Some coverage described the dataset as containing more than 41,000 employees and contractors. A search tool created by the hacker known as maia arson crimew allows users to browse the information, according to DDoSecrets cofounder Emma Best. Best said the tool was intended to support journalism, public-records requests and congressional oversight. The group has not independently established that every entry is accurate or current. Checks of a limited number of records found some corroboration. Reporters matched information for six named DHS employees...