Icepick dataset exposes DHS worker information

A dataset containing names, contact details, job assignments and internal group information for more than 41,000 Department of Homeland Security employees and contractors was published online as DHS investigates a potential breach. The archive, called Icepick, was published by the transparency collective Distributed Denial of Secrets on October 28. The group said it received the material from an entity calling itself the Department of Peace, which claimed responsibility for obtaining it. The precise method of access has not been independently established. The records include personnel from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection and other DHS components. They include work email addresses, phone numbers, office locations and job titles, as well as group memberships and assignments linked to sensitive work, including surveillance and undercover operations. Reuters matched information for six employees against other records and confirmed contact details by calling three of them. A searchable directory created from the archive’s data indexes 41,191 people and 55,603 internal groups, according to its operators. They caution that the directory does not...