While America watched the Superbowl, a hacker released details of 9,000 DHS employees, followed by data from 22,000 FBI workers

  • The anonymous hacker leaked the sensitive data on Sunday night and the rest on Monday
  • Twitter account called 'Penis' tweeted link to data with password: 'lol'
  • The pro-Palestine hacker leaked the data as a protest to the American government's support of Israel
  • But a DOJ spokesperson has played down the leak saying it is unclear if the leaked data even carries sensitive information 

An anonymous hacker has leaked sensitive data from over  20,000 supposed Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) employees and over 9,000 alleged Department of Homeland Security (DHS) employees, says Intel Group.

The cybercriminal carried out one half of the hack right after the Superbowl kick off on Sunday night, which was watched by 114.4 million viewers.

The hacker published a list of 9,000 DHS employees and on Monday he sent this message attached to the dump: 'Long Live Palestine, Long Live Gaza' along with the hashtag '#FreePalestine', with the rest of the hacked information.

An anonymous hacker leaked sensitive data from over 20,000 supposed Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) employees and over 9,000 alleged Department of Homeland Security (DHS) employees on Sunday night
The cybercriminal carried out the one half of the hack right after the Superbowl kick off on Sunday night, which was watched by 114.4 million viewers

An anonymous hacker leaked sensitive data from over 20,000 supposed Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) employees and over 9,000 alleged Department of Homeland Security (DHS) employees on Sunday night

The pro-Palestine hacker leaked the data as a protest to the American government's support of Israel

The pro-Palestine hacker leaked the data as a protest to the American government's support of Israel

The hacker, whose Twitter account is 'Penis' tweeted: 'ALL DHS EMPLOYEES (9,000) NAMES, TITLES, PHONE NUMBER, STATE, EMAIL. Pass is lol', followed by a link to the sensitive information.

The account has been tweeting frequently since the dump, one reads: 'Be sure to tweet #FreePalestine to bring awareness to all the kids dying by Israeli bombs that the US government funds!'

While another says: 'FBI and DHS info is dropped and that's all we came to do, so now its time to go, bye folks! #FreePalestine'

Motherboard, who has had direct contact with the hacker, said it had been sent a copy of the data on Sunday, which included names, email addresses (many of which are non-public) and job descriptions such as task force deputy director, security specialist, special agent.

he hacker, whose Twitter account is 'Penis' tweeted: 'ALL EMPLOYEES (9,000) NAMES, TITLES, PHONE NUMBER, STATE, EMAIL. Pass is lol', followed by a link to the sensitive information

he hacker, whose Twitter account is 'Penis' tweeted: 'ALL EMPLOYEES (9,000) NAMES, TITLES, PHONE NUMBER, STATE, EMAIL. Pass is lol', followed by a link to the sensitive information

The account has been tweeting frequently since the cyber dump 

The account has been tweeting frequently since the cyber dump 

The news site said it reached out to some of the contacts listed and they appear to be legitimate.

A spokesperson for the DOJ told Motherboard that the department 'is looking into the unauthorized access of a system operated by one of its components containing employee contact information.'

'This unauthorized access is still under investigation; however, there is no indication at this time that there is any breach of sensitive personally identifiable information,' DOJ spokesperson Peter Carr said in a statement.

According to Motherboard, the hacker gained the sensitive information via a 'compromised' DOJ email last week. 

IT'S BEEN A BAD FEW MONTHS FOR US GOVERNMENT DATA LEAKS...

In June, the Office of Personnel Management had data - from phone numbers to fingerprints - leaked from 1.5m current and former government employees and contractors.

In October, a group of hackers calling itself 'Crackas With Attitude' (CWA) hacked the email of CIA director John Brennan. They then targeted several other high-profile government employees, including US Spy Chief James Clapper and a Whitehouse official. 

The hacktivists were able to break into a US law enforcement portal, gaining access to a series of information sharing tools. This hack allegedly allowed them to download one or more databases of US government employees. 

In November, the CWA hackers released two lists of law enforcement agents from several departments, one containing around 2,300 names, and another containing almost 1,500 names. Both lists seemed incomplete, given that they were in alphabetical order and only included names starting with the first letters of the alphabet.

The CWA hackers appear to have shared the databases stolen last year with others. 

In January, another group of cyber criminals released a list of 80 police officers from Miami, Florida. 

Source: Motherboard / Guardian

In October, hackers who claimed to be pro-Palestinian broke into the email account of CIA Director John Brennan (pictured)

In October, hackers who claimed to be pro-Palestinian broke into the email account of CIA Director John Brennan (pictured)

He then used the compromised credentials to log into the portal where he gained access to the DOJ intranet, where the databases of DHS and FBI details were located.

Some of the data from the DHS list appears to be outdated, according to The Guardian.

Speaking to Motherboard, Michael Adams, an information security expert who served more than two decades in the US Special Operations Command, said: 'What has anybody in the United States government learned?

'They're not doing information security fundamentals, obviously.'

But Peter Carr told the Guardian that this hack was nothing in comparison to the recent theft from the Office of Personal Management.

Hen said: 'This unauthorized access is still under investigation; however, there is no indication at this time that there is any breach of sensitive personally identifiable information.'

This hack is the latest in a series of cyber attacks on US government employees. 

In October, hackers who claimed to be pro-Palestinian broke into the email account of  CIA Director John Brennan.

And in January, hackers pranked Director of National Intelligence James Clapper so that his calls were forwarded to the Free Palestine Movement. 

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