Guccifer 2.0 returns: Hacker leaks internal files from second Democratic Party group

Guccifer 2.0, the hacker believed to have played a role in at least one breach at Democratic National Committee (DNC), has leaked a fresh batch of documents, memos and passwords – this time from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC).

Seven documents were made public by the suspected Russian hacker. They include a spreadsheet of congressional contacts' phone numbers and email addresses, internal memos and what purports to be documents stolen from the computer of Nancy Pelosi, the highest-ranking Democrat in Congress.

Also included in the alleged leak are usernames and passwords for a range of shared subscription services – from the Wall Street Journal to GlennBeck.com. The password for the latter – if the data dump is legitimate – was 'nutbag'. Other credentials are related to Gmail, Twitter and Kindle.

Previously, Guccifer 2.0 – which some believe is a propaganda persona maintained by Russian intelligence – released a trove of internal files from the Democratic National Congress (DNC) – including a strategic playbook compiled on presidential candidate Donald Trump and more than 200 documents relating to the Democrat's presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

"It's time for new revelations now," Guccifer 2.0 wrote in a blog post on 12 August. "All of you may have heard about the DCCC hack. As you see I wasn't wasting my time! It was even easier than in the case of the DNC breach."

The statement, which accompanied the fresh leak, continued: "As you see the US presidential elections are becoming a farce, a big political performance where the voters are far from playing the leading role. Everything is being settled behind the scenes as it was with Bernie Sanders."

The ramifications of the DNC hack are still being felt in the political party, especially after the release of 20,000 internal emails by whistleblowing outfit WikiLeaks last month which appeared to suggest DNC officials clearly favoured Hillary Clinton over rival candidate Sanders. It remains unknown if it was Guccifer 2.0 who provided the emails to WikiLeaks, but the website's founder, Julian Assange, recently rubbished such suggestions.

The focus on high-ranking politician Nancy Pelosi, who is the minority leader of the US House of Representatives, aligns with Guccifer 2.0's previous behaviour of selectively releasing information to get maximum impact. Most recently, on 11 August, Pelosi called the DNC hack an "electronic Watergate".

The Guccifer 2.0 statement continued: "I wonder what happened to the true democracy, to the equal opportunities, the things we love the United States for. The big money bags are fighting for power today. I do believe that people have right to know what's going on inside the election process in fact. To make a long story short, here are some DCCC docs from their server. Make use of them."

The FBI, which is investigating the hacks and leaks from Democratic Party-related groups and politicians, has been forced to broaden the scope of its probe after it emerged the hackers' campaign was far more aggressive than previously believed. According to The New York Times, more than 100 political figures were potentially breached.

The White House has refrained from blaming any specific hacking group or government for the hacks, which some see as part of a plot to influence the upcoming US election. Meanwhile, cybersecurity firms have produced evidence that at least two Russian state-sponsored groups – dubbed Cosy Bear and Fancy Bear – were involved in the DNC infiltration.

While the Obama Administration has declined to place blame on Putin's intelligence services, Hillary Clinton has been less subtle in attributing the hacks to Russia.

"We know that Russian intelligence services, which are part of the Russian government, which is under the firm control of Vladimir Putin, hacked into the DNC. We know that they arranged for a lot of those emails to be released," Clinton said in an interview aired on 31 July.

Officials from the Kremlin have consistently denied playing any role in the hacks. Less than 24 hours after the data dump was released, the Guccifer 2.0 Twitter account was suspended.