Bluesky blocks links to site with DHS data — TechCrunch
In the United States, social network Bluesky blocked users’ access to links to the website of the nonprofit collective DDoSecrets, which published data related to employees of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Links to the resource were labeled as harmful on the platform, TechCrunch reports.
Data from the DHS login system
According to the publication, a hacker obtained more than 40,000 credential records from the DHS login system. They contained names and work contact details of employees and agents from various divisions, including U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The information included work phone numbers and email addresses.
A DHS spokesperson told TechCrunch that the department is aware of a possible breach and is working to resolve the situation. Bluesky did not respond to the publication’s request sent outside business hours on the U.S. West Coast. At the same time, a platform representative told Wired that the published data violate community guidelines. The company decided to block links rather than remove posts.
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DDoSecrets co-founder and journalist Emma Best told TechCrunch that the dataset does not contain home addresses or personal contact details, whose distribution is prohibited by Bluesky’s terms. According to her, the dataset contains professional contacts of public officials that may be needed to submit requests under public information access laws.
Attempts to remove the data
A website with the ability to search the published data, created by journalist maia arson crimew, stopped loading. Domain information indicates a serverHold status, which usually means that the registrar has suspended or closed the domain for some reason.
Through ZeroFox, DHS sent a takedown request. As TechCrunch notes, the document asks the registrar to stop providing access to personal contact and location data of people who did not consent to its publication. CentralNic, which services the domain name, and ZeroFox did not comment on the situation.
