FlokiNET refuses takedown, saying data holds work contact details only
The Department of Homeland Security on Thursday asked Icelandic hosting company FlokiNET to take down or limit access to a database of agency personnel, saying the content put thousands of agency personnel at risk, according to the request the company posted online. FlokiNET said it would not remove the data.
The request said the database “places more than 40,000 identifiable individuals at risk of harassment, stalking and physical harm.” ZeroFox, a company authorized by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement to pursue content removal actions, cited the figure in an email to FlokiNET.
FlokiNET’s chief executive, Kolja Weber, told Reuters that the company would not remove the DHS data because it included government employees’ work addresses and work phone numbers, not personal phone numbers and addresses.
A DHS spokesperson said the agency “is aware of a potential breach and is actively working to address the situation swiftly and effectively. We take all security threats against our employees and officers seriously and will work to ensure all are properly protected.”
The nonprofit data transparency group Distributed Denial of Secrets released data on more than 40,000 DHS personnel on its website Wednesday, alongside a separate, searchable database developed by hacker and journalist “maia arson crimew.” The database was briefly inaccessible Thursday but was soon republished at a different domain.
A group calling itself “the Department of Peace” claimed responsibility for obtaining the data, saying in a statement Wednesday that DHS employees “have our information, so it’s only fair that we have theirs” and that it hoped the data “can be used to limit further harm by the DHS and supports all efforts in that direction.”
Privacy advocates have criticized DHS’s use of personal data from other agencies, including Medicaid records and taxpayer data, for immigration enforcement.