Digital Forensic Research Lab

The Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab) has operationalized the study of disinformation by exposing falsehoods and fake news, documenting human rights abuses, and building digital resilience worldwide.

The Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab) is a first of its kind organization with technical and policy expertise on disinformation, connective technologies, democracy, and the future of digital rights. Incubated at the Atlantic Council in 2016, the DFRLab has conducted over 1,000 investigations exposing influence operations and emerging digital threats worldwide.

With a team rooted in diverse regional expertise and subject-matter knowledge, the DFRLab works to promote digital resilience, defend democratic institutions, and ensure that objective fact remains central to public discourse in an increasingly contested information space.

Read the DFRLab’s latest case studies, learn about our initiatives, and more at DFRLab.org

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Programs

The Democracy + Tech Initiative creates policy practices that align global stakeholders toward tech and governance that reinforces, rather than undermines, open societies. It builds on the DFRLab’s established track record and leadership in the open-source field, empowering global communities to promote transparency and accountability online and around the world.

The Atlantic Council Technology Programs comprises five existing efforts—the Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab), the GeoTech Center, the Cyber Statecraft Initiative, the Democracy + Tech Initiative, and the Capacity Building Initiative. These operations work together to address the geopolitical implications of technology and provide policymakers and global stakeholders necessary research, insights, and convenings to address challenges around global technology and ensure its responsible advancement.

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From the archives

Experts

Content

Conscripts board a train carriage at a local railway station during their departure for the garrisons, in Omsk

New Atlanticist

Sep 23, 2022

Russian War Report: Russia conducts partial mobilization amid battlefield losses

By Digital Forensic Research Lab

As Ukraine's advances into its eastern territory put Russia under additional pressure, Putin declared a partial mobilization in the country.

Conflict Disinformation
Ukrainian police patrol the town of Izyum, recently liberated by Ukrainian Armed Forces, September 14, 2022. (Source: Reuters/Gleb Garanich)

New Atlanticist

Sep 16, 2022

Russian War Report: Ukraine secures new territory as Prigozhin recruits Russian prisoners 

By Digital Forensic Research Lab

As Ukraine recaptures its territory, Russia attempts to recruit convicts. Elsewhere, the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan renews and hundreds of civilians are found dead in Izyum.

Conflict Disinformation

Report

Sep 14, 2022

Dragon tails: Preserving international cybersecurity research

By Stewart Scott, Sara Ann Brackett, Yumi Gambrill, Emmeline Nettles, Trey Herr

A quantitative study on whether legal context can impact the supply of vulnerability research with detrimental effects for cybersecurity writ large through the coordinated vulnerability disclosure process (CVD), using recent regulations in China as a case study.

China Cybersecurity
A multiple rocket system is deployed around the border of eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Kharkiv on Aug. 27, 2022. (Source: Kyodo via Reuters Connect)

New Atlanticist

Sep 9, 2022

Russian War Report: Ukraine intensifies offensive attacks in Kharkiv Oblast

By Digital Forensic Research Lab

Over the last week, Ukraine has launched several counter offensives in occupied southern and eastern Ukraine, recapturing Balakliia.

Disinformation Education
Ukrainian soldiers on patrol, August 29, 2022. (Source: Latin America News Agency via Reuters Connect)

New Atlanticist

Sep 2, 2022

Russian War Report: Ukraine counterattacks in Kherson as Russia prepares new deployments

By Digital Forensic Research Lab

Ukrainian forces targeted Russian military command-and-control elements in northwestern Kherson, while Russian forces attempted a limited ground assault in the same area.

Central Europe Conflict
A woman pushes a bicycle past residential buildings destroyed in a Russian missile attack on Chaplyne urban-type settlement, Dnipropetrovsk Region, central Ukraine, August 24, 2022. The strike on the residential sector and the railway station carried out by Russian occupiers on Ukraine's 31st Independence Day claimed the lives of 25 people, including an 11-year-old boy and a six-year-old girl, while 31 people got injured. Photo by Dmytro Smolienko/Ukrinform/ABACAPRESS.COMNo Use Russia.

New Atlanticist

Aug 26, 2022

Russian War Report: Russian missile strike targets railway station

By Digital Forensic Research Lab

During Ukraine's Independence Day celebrations, a Russian missile struck a railway station, killing fifteen and wounding another fifty.

Conflict Disinformation
CHINESE DISCOURSE POWER: ASPIRATIONS, REALITY, AND AMBITIONS IN THE DIGITAL DOMAIN

In-Depth Research & Reports

Aug 24, 2022

Chinese discourse power: Ambitions and reality in the digital domain

By Kenton Thibaut

The CCP has embarked on a concerted strategy to gain control over the global digital and information environment. Its goal: create an alternative global order with China at its heart.

China Digital Policy
A Russian soldier stands guard near the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, August 4, 2022. (Source: REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko/File Photo)

New Atlanticist

Aug 19, 2022

Russian War Report: Russia and Ukraine warn Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant facing imminent threat

By Eto Buziashvili, Ruslan Trad, Nika Aleksejeva, Givi Gigitashvili

The Russian occupation of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant continues to provoke fear among the international community in light of renewed shelling around the plant.

Disinformation Internet

The 5×5

Aug 15, 2022

The 5×5—The US-Japan-South Korea trilateral cybersecurity relationship

By Simon Handler

Five experts share their insights on the future of US-Japan-South Korea trilateral cybersecurity cooperation.

Cybersecurity East Asia
Smoke rises after explosions were heard from the direction of a Russian military airbase near Novofedorivka, Crimea, August 9, 2022. (Source: Reuters)

New Atlanticist

Aug 12, 2022

Russian War Report: Satellite imagery confirms destruction of aircraft at Crimea airbase

By Digital Forensic Research Lab

Satellite imagery confirms the destruction of Crimea's Saki airbase and debunking "Ukraine sells weapons" narratives.

Conflict Disinformation