| TechCrunch techcrunch.com
Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai
8:11 AM PST · March 2, 2026
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 enabler 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.
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.
This story was updated to clarify that Palantir enables, not provides, surveillance for the government.
Welcome to our OCPL Fellows Feature series, brought to you by our current cohort of talented researchers. These pieces explore key challenges at the intersection of U.S.-China and global emerging technology competition.
Massive leaks of information stored in government-owned databases have become increasingly common in China throughout the 2020s.
Chinese hacktivists likely executed some of these leaks to call attention to the scope and pervasiveness of state surveillance.
Hackers in China have previously been prevented from organizing into groups and carrying out both nationalist and apolitical hacking. It is plausible that hackers would have little to lose by pivoting to hack to express dissent.
Introduction
What comes to mind when you think about data protection? Perhaps the right to privacy or cybersecurity, but almost certainly not “streaking.” However, Chinese netizens commonly use this term (裸奔, luǒbēn) to describe the sense of embarrassment an individual feels when their personal data has been unintentionally exposed. The use (and censorship) of this phrase has only increased as large-scale data leaks have risen dramatically in China throughout the 2020s.
When these data leaks occur, commentary is quickly taken down to prevent Chinese internet users from uncovering the scope of state surveillance practices. That’s partly because retrospective analysis of these incidents often reveals that they resulted directly from Chinese government bodies’ lax data management practices. These incidents have proved shameful for party leaders; while not directly acknowledging these leaks, high-ranking officials like the late Li Keqiang call for heightened “information security” standards in their aftermath.
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