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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Democracy + Tech Initiative

DTI 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

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SENSITIVE MATERIAL. THIS IMAGE MAY OFFEND OR DISTURB Bodies of killed people are seen at a site of a Russian military strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the village of Hroza, in Kharkiv region, Ukraine October 5, 2023. REUTERS/Vyacheslav Madiyevskyy

New Atlanticist

Oct 5, 2023

Russian War Report: Civilian cafe attacked and a fake Ukrainian news site is exposed

By Digital Forensic Research Lab

A suspicious website impersonating a Ukrainian news agency accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Ukrainian leadership of corruption and misusing aid provided by the United States.

Conflict Digital Policy
A satellite image shows smoke billowing from a Russian Black Sea Navy HQ after a missile strike, as Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues, in Sevastopol, Crimea, September 22, 2023. PLANET LABS PBC/Handout via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES. MANDATORY CREDIT. DO NOT OBSCURE LOGO

New Atlanticist

Sep 28, 2023

Russian War Report: Competing claims about the possible death of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet commander

By Digital Forensic Research Lab

Following an attack by Ukrainian forces on the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Crimea, rumors swirled about the potential death of Russian Admiral Viktor Sokolov.

Conflict Infrastructure Protection
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy looks across the room towards Russia's Ambassador to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya as Zelenskiy addresses the United Nations Security Council during a ministerial level meeting of the Security Council on the crisis in Ukraine at U.N. headquarters in New York, September 20, 2023. REUTERS/Mike Segar

New Atlanticist

Sep 21, 2023

Russian War Report: Black Sea military operations approach NATO countries’ waters

By Digital Forensic Research Lab

Zelenskyy expresses frustration at the UN, Russia seems unlikely to block YouTube, and the US drops new sanctions.

Conflict Digital Policy

New Atlanticist

Sep 14, 2023

Russian War Report: Ukraine’s Black Sea offensive retakes oil rigs near Crimea

By Digital Forensic Research Lab

Ukrainian soldiers board what appears to be the Tavrida oil drilling rig near the waters of Crimea. Russia protests actions by Armenia.

Conflict Disinformation

New Atlanticist

Sep 7, 2023

Russian War Report: A new recruitment push for fighters from Russia to Hungary

By Digital Forensic Research Lab

The Russian National Guard and a private Hungarian foreign legion have launched campaigns to recruit soldiers to fight in Ukraine.

Conflict Disinformation

New Atlanticist

Aug 31, 2023

Russian War Report: Russia deploys revamped cruise missile warship

By Digital Forensic Research Lab

Russia has deployed one of its biggest warships, which serves as a cruise missile launch platform, from a Black Sea port.

Conflict Disinformation
A masked Wagner fighter visits a makeshift memorial to Yevgeny Prigozhin in Saint Petersburg, Russia, August 24, 2023. (Source: Reuters/Anastasia Barashkova)

New Atlanticist

Aug 24, 2023

Russian War Report: Russian media pins Prigozhin crash on all except Putin

By Digital Forensic Research Lab

On Wednesday, August 23, Wagner Group PMC founder Yevgeny Prighozhin and many of his top brass were reported to be killed in a plane crash. Rumors swirled shortly thereafter as to the nature of the crash.

Conflict Media
A still image from a bodycam footage, released by Russia's Defence Ministry, shows what it said to be crew members kneeling down in a cockpit during an operation held by Russian navy officers to board the Palau-flagged Sukru Okan vessel with the help of a Ka-29 military helicopter in the Black Sea on August 13, 2023, in this image taken from video published August 15, 2023. Russian Defence Ministry/Handout via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES. MANDATORY CREDIT. WATERMARK FROM SOURCE.

New Atlanticist

Aug 17, 2023

Russian War Report: Tensions escalate in the Black Sea as the Russian navy forcefully inspects a civilian cargo ship

By Digital Forensic Research Lab

Russia escalated tensions beyond Ukraine again this week when its navy forcibly inspected and fired warning shots at a civilian cargo ship.

Conflict Digital Policy

Report

Aug 16, 2023

Digital identities and border cultures: The limits of technosolutionism in the management of human mobility

By Nanjala Nyabola

A paper to better inform the conversation around technology’s impact on democracy by evaluating technosolutionism and its application to the management of human mobility.

Afghanistan Africa

Report

Aug 14, 2023

Protecting point-to-point messaging apps: Understanding Telegram, WeChat, and WhatsApp in the United States

By Iria Puyosa

A year-long project on protecting users' data and privacy that analyzes the growing use of point-to-point messaging platforms in the United States and the implications their design and governing policies have for user privacy and free speech.

Civil Society Digital Policy

Events