BlueLeaks 2.0

Emma Best, Mikael Thalen, Alexander J. Urbelis, maia arson crimew

In 2020, a private contractor that provided services to hundreds of agencies was hacked and given to Distributed Denial of Secrets, which dubbed the data BlueLeaks. At the time, it was the largest leak of American law enforcement and intelligence records in history. In 2026, it happened again. This panel will discuss receiving the leak, publishing it, and the fallout.

Sunday 1200 Grand Ballroom


Emma Best is a journalist, historian, whistleblower, and a former hacker who founded Distributed Denial of Secrets (DDoSecrets), a 501(c)(3) journalist nonprofit that has published major leaks from more than 90 countries.

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Mikael Thalen is a tech reporter for Straight Arrow News specializing in hackers, data breaches, and surveillance. Prior to joining Straight Arrow News, he reported for the Daily Dot, where he revealed the exposure of the U.S. government’ s secretive No Fly List, an investigation that prompted a congressional inquiry.

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Alexander J. Urbelis is an internationally recognized technology attorney and cybersecurity expert who serves as general counsel and CISO of the Ethereum Name Service. He previously led worldwide cybersecurity strategy and enterprise cyber risk as chief information security officer of the National Football League and served as chief compliance officer for Richemont, one of the world’s largest luxury conglomerates. A longtime contributor to hacker culture, Alex has written extensively on security and technology for outlets including CNN, Financial Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Intercept, Slate, Unchained, and 2600: The Hacker Quarterly, where he has authored the column “Artificial Interruption” since 2020, and he co-hosts Off The Hook on WBAI 99.5 FM in New York City with Emmanuel Goldstein. His public service includes roles in the Office of General Counsel at the Central Intelligence Agency, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, and ongoing pro bono federal habeas representation for ICE detainees in the Southern District of New York. Alex teaches cybersecurity law as a visiting professor at the Dickson Poon School of Law, King’s College London, and serves on advisory boards and committees for Human Rights First, UL’ s research and security bodies, and the Uniform Law Commission’s studies on cybercrime and deepfakes.

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maia arson crimew is a journalist, hacktivist, and cyber-artist (whatever that may mean) from so called Switzerland, mostly known for finding a copy of the No Fly List on an exposed web server in 2023, but with a focus on exposing surveillance and showing how hackers can fight for a better world. maia has seen A Lot.