Revelation of 'Document' on Russian Hackers' Attempts to Infiltrate U.S. Voting Systems

According to a 'document' released by the National Security Agency (NSA) of the United States, the Russian military intelligence agency attempted multiple times last year to infiltrate the voting systems of the U.S. presidential elections. According to France Press, this document, which the Intercept website claims to have obtained from an anonymous source and belongs to the NSA, was leaked one month after its preparation. So far, one suspect has been arrested in connection with the leak of this document. Almost immediately after the document was published, the Trump administration announced the arrest of a 25-year-old American woman named Reality Winner on charges of violating the 'Espionage Act.' This individual had been working as a contractor for the NSA. Rod Rosenstein, the Deputy Attorney General of the United States, stated that the unauthorized disclosure of classified information threatens the security of the United States and undermines public trust in the government. The document states that the hackers' operations were closely linked to the 'Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.' The report adds that the target of these hacking operations was private companies that provide software and hardware services for the U.S. presidential elections. This operation continued for months and up until a few days before the November 8 elections, in which Donald Trump was declared the winner. The NSA did not clarify in this document whether the hackers' interference had any impact on the election results. Previously, U.S. intelligence officials had repeatedly emphasized that the hackers were unable to affect the vote counting. The Intercept news website did not specify how it obtained this document, but only one hour after its publication, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that it had arrested Reality Winner in connection with the leak of classified information to a website. The Intercept states that this document was sent by an anonymous individual. The document states: 'The Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, which leads the hackers... carried out a cyber espionage operation against an American company in August 2016, aiming to obtain software and hardware information.' According to this document, the hackers used fake emails with malware on the computers of their targets and were able to infiltrate state and local electoral bodies in the U.S.