from the better-the-devil-whose-phone-number-you-know dept

Distributed Denial of Secrets (DDoS) has been steadily pushing the limits of transparency and accountability for several years now. The project — spearheaded by Emma Best — does what other activists won’t… or perhaps simply don’t have the expertise to carry out.

DDoS made a name for itself by hitching Best’s non-stop FOIA onslaught to data and info exfiltrated from government agencies by hackers and data breaches. Add it all together and it’s a project that actually delivers transparency and, consequently, increases government accountability.

From releasing files about Russia that Wikileaks selectively chose to ignore to dumping multiple terabytes of law enforcement helicopter camera footage none of these agencies would ever have voluntarily released, DDoS does what it says on the tin: refuses to let the government’s secrets remain secret.

Today, it’s releasing information on nearly 40,000 DHS employees — something that is estimated to cover nearly 20 percent of its total workforce. This covers all DHS component agencies, including ICE, CBP, HSI, and another dozen or so subsidiaries that don’t make the headlines nearly as often as the Big Three.

But it’s not just a data dump. As Best points out in DDoS’s press release, this info — leaked by an “Okta single sign-on service” — has not only been vetted, it’s been cleaned up to give viewers a clearer picture of organizational structures as well as make it easily searchable. It’s not about dumping data on thousands of foot soldiers. It’s about drawing connections between the boots on the ground and those who have put those boots on the ground.

”Rather than an indiscriminate directory of every DHS employee, Icepick identifies many of the architects and drivers of DHS policy and operations,” said journalist and DDoSecrets cofounder Emma Best. ”The leak is extraordinary but deceptive in it’s simplicity as it identifies the officials responsible for overseeing covert and undercover operations, the government’s hunt for leakers and the failed BlueLeaks investigation — along with key personnel in DHS’s ever-escalating rendition and deportation programs.”

The “Icepick” referred to by Best is the front-end for searching this database. The data on these 40,000 federal employees was obtained by a source that has only referred to itself as the “Department of Peace.” Journalist/hacktivist “crimew” (assisted by journalist Ryan Fae) did the dirty work of creating a rather sleek front end for the search engine, as well as doing the even dirtier work of cleaning up the data to deliver relevant results more frequently.

The end result is useful for everyone from journalists to people suing DHS employees. Here’s a sample shot providing details on David Easterwood, an ICE Deputy Field Office Director currently working in Minnesota:

Everything underlined is a link that opens a new search. It allows users to climb up the chain of command (the “Manager” field), as well as drill down to the specifics of those in Easterwood’s command (“Manager of”). It also pulls up a list of all related groups Easterwood is a member of in this Okta instance, ranging from the instantly worrying (ERO St Paul Intelligence Team) to the “it’s just offices all the way down” banality of “Adobe-Acrobat Pro DC Users.”

While it may have been possible to brute force email addresses by dialing in on shared nomenclature among federal agencies, it’s highly unlikely most people would be able to suss out direct phone lines, much less cell phone numbers. To be sure, this small amount of immediately visible (and searchable) info will provoke outlandish reactions from government officials. On the other hand, any arguments that this makes things more “dangerous” for DHS agents and officials should be immediately dismissed.

What this does do is allow people to figure out who’s calling the shots wherever they’re experiencing surges in ICE activity and the violence that so often comes with it. And this allows plaintiffs seeking to hold the government accountable the ability to go up and down the chain of command to find names to add to lawsuits. If their rights were violated by masked ICE thugs in a certain area, perusing city and state data could potentially allow them to identify the officers who were directly responsible for these acts.

And, going back to the inevitable claims that this will allow people to “target” government agents, let’s not forget these same people have access to way more data about citizens and aren’t particularly shy about using that info to track and surveil critics and activists. The info released here shouldn’t make anyone fear for their safety. What it might do, however, is remind federal officers that they’re not untouchable.

Filed Under: cbp, crimew, ddosecrets, department of peace, dhs, emma best, ice, security breach, trump administration
Companies: ddosecrets