© Adam Zyglis/The Buffalo News
In its preliminary report released on Tuesday, the committee claims that the so-called "actors affiliated with the Russian government" interfered with voting systems in at least 18 states, and probably in three more. The report is a result of more than a year-long investigation into the alleged Russian effort to "sow discord" within American society and erode trust in its democratic institutions.
"Almost all of the states" that the report says were targeted by a Russia-masterminded cyber operation were subjected to "vulnerability scanning directed at their Secretary of State websites or voter registration infrastructure," the report states.
In six of the states, which were not specified in the report, the supposed "Russian actors" tried to gain access to voting-related websites. In a few states, according to the report, they succeeded at the task, breaking cybersecurity defenses. Additionally, "in a small number of states," the alleged perpetrators "were in position to, at a minimum, alter or delete voter registration data."
However, this malicious cyber activity, supposedly orchestrated by the Kremlin, did little to no damage to the integrity of the US elections, as the Committee says "it has not seen any evidence that vote tallies were manipulated or that voter registration information was deleted or modified."
Comment: In other words, the alleged Russian hackers had no effect on the election as that was not their intent. See also: