A group of hacktivists calling themselves “Department of Peace” claimed to have hacked the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), leaking allegedly stolen documents online.
On Sunday, the nonprofit transparency collective DDoSecrets published data relating to contracts between DHS, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and more than 6,000 companies, including defense contractors Anduril, L3Harris, Raytheon, and surveillance provider Palantir, as well as tech giants Microsoft and Oracle.
The hacktivist said the data comes from the Office of Industry Partnership, a unit within DHS that procures technology from the private sector.
DHS and ICE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Department of Peace explained their motives in a document alongside the hack, citing the recent killings of two peaceful protesters, U.S. citizens Alex Pretti and Renée Good, earlier this year in Minneapolis by federal agents.
“Why hack the DHS? I can think of a couple Pretti Good reasons! I’m releasing this because the DHS is killing us and people deserve to know which companies support them and what they’re working on,” the hackers wrote.
Since the beginning of the Trump administration, DHS and federal immigration agents with ICE have undertaken a campaign of mass deportations, arresting people with largely no criminal records, and detaining them in overcrowded facilities where critics say they are held in inhumane conditions. The mass deportation campaign has been aided by several tech companies, with Palantir at the forefront.
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Security researcher Micah Lee organized the leaked data on a dedicated website, making the information easily searchable.
The site shows the name of the contractors, the amount of money they were awarded, as well as contact information, such as full names, email addresses, and phone numbers.
The largest contracts by total money awarded included $70 million for Cyber Apex Solutions, a company that claims on its barebones website to be “focused on filling the security gaps of critical infrastructure” in the U.S.; and $59 million for Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), which provides AI services for government agencies. Underwriters Laboratories was awarded $29 million to provide testing, certification, and market intelligence to customers.
Cyber Apex Solution, SAIC, and Underwriters Laboratories did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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