A group calling itself Department of Peace published a database with details of more than 41,000 employees and contractors of the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), including more than 21,000 at CBP and about 10,000 at ICE. The leak, dubbed Icepick, includes names, job titles, contact details, offices and assignments. The group claims it took the data from an Okta single sign-on (SSO) system. DHS said it is looking into a potential breach, while Okta said it has no evidence that its own systems were compromised.

What it means: The case shows how valuable staff data is, even when it contains no passwords or financial details. Names, roles and office locations are enough for targeted phishing, harassment or blackmail, especially when they concern people in sensitive positions. If it is confirmed that access came through the single sign-on platform, the lesson is familiar but often ignored: SSO concentrates access to many applications, so one stolen account or one misconfiguration opens many doors at once. Okta says the problem is not in its own systems, which points to settings or accounts on the customer's side. Greek companies and public bodies using Okta, Microsoft Entra or similar tools should check for phishing-resistant multi-factor authentication such as security keys or passkeys, alerts on unusual sign-ins and limits on who can export user lists in bulk. Internal phone directories and organisation charts should also not be open to every account without a reason.

Read the original on TechCrunch

Related service: Custom software

Related stories