US Homeland Security"s ICE demands Twitter release data on cryptic Flash Gordon account

Flash Gordon (@s7nsins), a mysterious Twitter user based in New Zealand, announced in a tweet that the US Department of Homeland Security” Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) sent Twitter an export enforcement subpoena in April to disclose the real identity of the person behind the account.

ICE demanded private information such as name, address, phone number, credit cards linked to the account, IP address history, complaints filed against the account and any other information that might lead to identifying Flash Gordon. Private messages and similar content were not requested, as a court order is necessary.

Following its guidelines and policies, Twitter informed the user of the legal request. Flash Gordon received legal assistance from the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the subpoena was unsuccessfully challenged on June 20.

The reasons behind the demand were not explained, but ICE could be interested in uncovering the person”s identity because the account has regularly released information about data breaches and leaked information found on unencrypted servers.

In the past, Flash Gordon reported finding an inventory of nearly 1 million patient records stolen from HealthNow Records, a medical telemarketing company based in Florida. The database was located on an Amazon Web Services server via Shodan and included sensitive personal and health information of senior patients with diabetes, including Social Security Numbers, health insurance data and names.

Flash Gordon recently revealed another leak, this time related to the cache of law enforcement data by ALERRT, a company that trains police and civilians to respond against shooters. The leaked cache revealed which police units in Texas lacked resources to react to active shooter situations.