A hacker published a staff directory covering more than 40,000 Homeland Security workers, and it shows how one weak login system can expose a whole workforce.
Names, work emails and cell phone numbers of more than 40,000 Homeland Security employees are now posted online. A hacker who goes by Department of Peace says the data came from the login system the department uses for its staff. TechCrunch reports the data appears to be real.
The hacker claims the data came from an Okta single sign-on system. Single sign-on is one login that opens many work tools. Homeland Security uses it so employees and contractors across its agencies can reach the central network. The hacker left a note saying, "They have our information, so it's only fair that we have theirs."
The records list names, job titles, work email addresses, cell phone numbers and office locations. They also include IT and login records, such as which internal systems and apps each person can use.
The count equals about one-fifth of the department's roughly 220,000 workers. Timestamps suggest the data was taken around mid-August.
A directory like this is a ready-made list for scammers and people who want to harass workers. A message that uses a real name, job title and work number looks believable. TechCrunch checked part of the data by matching names of known employees against an offline copy. The hacker passed the data to a journalist, who shared it with DDoSecrets, a nonprofit that hosts leaked datasets.
This is also the second breach at the department this year. The same hacker claimed earlier to have taken thousands of contracts between the department and private companies.
Most readers are not in this dataset. The reporting describes staff records, not information about the public. The main risk is to the workers listed, and to their families and colleagues, who may get unusual messages. Business owners should look at the lesson. One weak point in a login system can expose everyone who uses it.
The alert box above lists the steps. In short, be wary of messages that mention government work, and tighten login protection and directory access at your own company.
Several things are unclear. It is not known whether the hole that let the hacker in has been fixed, or whether Homeland Security knows about the theft. The department did not immediately respond to TechCrunch. Okta said it is aware of the report and has "no evidence our data or systems were compromised." The hacker did not answer questions about how the breach was carried out.
If your work uses single sign-on, turn on multifactor login and trim what your staff directory shows.
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