By Barry Eitel
SAN FRANCISCO (AA) – The personal emails of multiple White House staffers were published online by hackers Thursday, as well as what appears to be a scanned image of first lady Michelle Obama’s passport.
The emails were posted on the website DCLeaks, which some cyber-security experts have claimed is backed by the Russian government with the intent to influence the political process in the United States. Last week, the site published an archive of emails belonging to former Secretary of State Colin Powell.
The emails appear to have been stolen from one comprised Gmail account belonging to a low-level staffer who also worked for the campaign of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
They date from February 2015 to July 2016 and the content mostly surrounds low-level chatter regarding event planning.
“Administration officials are taking a look at the information that’s been disclosed,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters. “Obviously we take any reports about a cyber breach seriously, particularly if it may include some sensitive information.”
DCLeaks was launched in June and is supposedly run by U.S. citizens motivated to release hacked information in the name of "freedom of speech, human rights and government of the people,” according to its website.
Prior to the leak of Powell’s emails, the site published thousands of documents stolen from the Democratic National Committee, the campaign staff of high-ranking Republican lawmaker John McCain, organizations operated by billionaire political activist George Soros and several others.
A growing number of security experts doubt, however, that DCLeaks is operated by anyone in the U.S.
“We believe DCLeaks is another Russian-backed influence outlet,” cyber-security firm Threat Connect said last month, pointing to the DCLeaks’ use of hacking tools developed by the Russian government and other factors.
A Twitter account linked to DCLeaks tweeted an image of what is supposedly the first lady’s passport, complete with passport number and other personal information. The image’s veracity had not been confirmed.