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DCLeaks

website established in 2016 responsible for publishing leaks of emails belonging to US figures

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 14, 2026
Entity authorityQ27918681
Source-derived summary

DCLeaks (also known as DC Leaks) was a website that was established in June 2016. It was responsible for publishing leaks of emails belonging to multiple prominent figures in the United States government and military. Cybersecurity research firms determined the site is a front for the Russian cyber-espionage group Fancy Bear. On July 13, 2018, an indictment was made against 12 Russian GRU military officers; it alleged that DCLeaks is part of a Russian military operation to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Identity

The site is thought by private cybersecurity analysts and the US intelligence community to be a part of Russian interference in the 2016 US elections.

Cybersecurity research firm ThreatConnect concluded that the DCLeaks project showed the hallmarks of Russian intelligence, matching the attack pattern of the GRU hacker group Fancy Bear. ThreatConnect determined that the site is likely linked to Russian persona Guccifer 2.0 and the GRU-linked hacker group Fancy Bear.

According to the DCLeaks site's "About" page, their aim is "to find out and tell you the truth about U.S. decision-making process [sic] as well as about the key elements of American political life." Of themselves, they say that they were launched by "the American hacktivists who respect and appreciate freedom of speech, human rights and government of the people."

On July 13, 2018 a federal grand jury for the District of Columbia indicted 12 members of Unit 26165 of the Russian Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) for creating the false identity DCLeaks website, hacking the Democratic National Committee and releasing stolen data on the website.

History

The domain name dcleaks.com was registered on April 19, 2016, on the THCservers.com and the files were hosted by Shinjiru Technology during the electoral campaign. The dcleaks.com website was launched in June 2016.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “DCLeaks” as website established in 2016 responsible for publishing leaks of emails belonging to US figures. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2016, 2018—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 2016-06. The account is most persuasive where DCLeaks, website and established can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as website established in 2016 responsible for publishing leaks of emails belonging to US figures. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 14, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q27918681. None of the 2 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2016 and 2018.

Critical limits

The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
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The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “DCLeaks”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow DCLeaks primary sources, DCLeaks archive and DCLeaks research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “DCLeaks”?
  2. What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
  3. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from DCLeaks” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.