Bluesky Blocks Links Pointing to Data Leak Files on 41,000 DHS Employees
Social platform Bluesky is blocking users from accessing a newly leaked file link that contains records of more than 41,000 U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) employees and contractors, and has marked the related page as “malicious.”
Bluesky told WIRED that the file contains contact information such as email addresses and phone numbers that were shared “without their authorization,” in violation of community guidelines; the platform chose to block the link rather than delete individual posts in order to avoid limiting public discussion or restricting broader access to reporting and commentary.
The file was released on Wednesday by the transparency nonprofit Distributed Denial of Secrets and was named “Icepick.” It is said to have originated from DHS’s Okta login system and covers employee names, contact information, and internal group membership, some of which are related to surveillance and undercover operations; the data was last updated on August 19, 2026.
Original sources:
Title: Bluesky Is Blocking Links to a Major Leak of DHS Employee Records Publisher: WIRED Publication date: 2026-10-28 URL: https://www.wired.com/story/bluesky-blocks-links-to-major-leak-of-dhs-data/ Nature of source: media report Verification status: The full text was read for this task, and related reports were cross-checked; verification date 2026-10-28 Supporting content: Bluesky’s blocking action, official statements, and overview of the file’s contents
Title: Massive Leak Exposes 41,000 Homeland Security Workers—Including Undercover ICE Agents Publisher: WIRED Publication date: 2026-10-28 URL: https://www.wired.com/story/massive-leak-exposes-41000-homeland-security-workers-including-undercover-ice-agents/ Nature of source: media report Verification status: The full text was read for this task Supporting content: The party that released the file, the scale of the data, the source’s claims, and content details
ABAB AI Insight
The data was reportedly obtained by a hacker group calling itself “Department of Peace” from the Okta single sign-on system used by DHS, and was provided to cybersecurity researcher maia arson crimew and Distributed Denial of Secrets. The file covers DHS itself and seven subordinate agencies, including about 10,000 records from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and about 21,000 records from Customs and Border Protection (CBP), accounting for about one-fifth of DHS’s approximately 220,000 employees.
WIRED’s investigation shows that the records detail the organizational structure from senior leadership to front-line immigration officers, and in some cases reveal access permissions for specific technologies, including internal groups related to surveillance tools such as Palantir and PenLink, as well as identifiers related to undercover operations. The hackers wrote in a note: “They have our info so it’s fair that we have theirs.”
Bluesky’s blocking measure targets the direct link rather than the discussion itself, and users attempting to open it through the website or app will see a “Blocked Link” page. Okta said it has seen no evidence that its systems or data were breached. The leak is one of several recent government-agency data exposures; FBI employee data had previously been stolen.
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The platform chose to block direct links containing unauthorized contact information while preserving space for public discussion of the event itself.
Identity management systems became the entry point for a large-scale employee directory data leak, making internal organizational structures and access assignments visible externally.