Cracker leaks information of 30,000 FBI and US Dept of Homeland Security personnel

A cracker has reportedly hacked into the server of the FBI and the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and stolen the names and details of almost 30,000 personnel.

The hack was first reported by Motherboard on Feb 7, after the culprits released the stolen personal information of 9,000 DHS workers. The stolen data of 20,000 FBI personnel was dumped online shortly after. In addition, it seems both leaks were accompanied by pro-Palestine slogans.

The cracker told Motherboard that he gained access to the files through a compromised email account of an employee of the Department of Justice. He also claimed that he downloaded about 200GB of the 1TB of total data he broke into. There was no indication of whether future data dumps might be planned.

The hack, while paling in size when comparing to the one carried out on the US Office of Personnel Management last year, posing a significantly larger threat because of the nature of data stolen, as well as the source. Right now, the names, job titles, email addresses and phone numbers of about 29,000 DHS and FBI employees are floating around on the web, while the hacker insisted he also has a selection of military emails and credit card numbers.

Of the total 35,000 people the FBI employs, over half are now exposed, though it’s not clear how many might be compromised while in a dangerous situation. In addition, it’s troubling that the cracker seems to have gained access to an ostensibly high-security agency through relatively simple means.