For now the intrigue that is the Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election appears to have a direct link to Harrisburg.

That's according to an investigation by The New York Times and research from the cybersecurity firm FireEye. Details of the findings were published Thursday by the news outlet in a story outlining the mechanisms by which suspected Russian operators used Twitter and Facebook to launch a campaign to thwart Hillary Clinton's campaign efforts.

According to The New York Times, on June 8, 2016, Harrisburg resident Melvin Redick - described as "a friendly-looking American with a backward baseball cap and a young daughter" - posted on Facebook a link to a new website.

"These guys show hidden truth about Hillary Clinton, George Soros and other leaders of the US," Redick wrote that day. "Visit #DCLeaks website. It's really interesting!"

The Redick identity, it turns out, was fictitious (no Pennsylvania public records exist) and his photo apparently stolen. But the entry, according to the investigation, marks one of the first public signs that the election was under threat by foreign hackers.

Writes the Times:

"The DCLeaks site had gone live a few days earlier, posting the first samples of material, stolen from prominent Americans by Russian hackers, that would reverberate through the presidential election campaign and into the Trump presidency. The site's phony promoters were in the vanguard of a cyberarmy of counterfeit Facebook and Twitter accounts, a legion of Russian-controlled impostors whose operations are still being unraveled."

On Wednesday, social media giant Facebook shut down a reported 470 "inauthentic" accounts believed to have been operated from Russia to spread divisive advertisements against Clinton during the election. Facebook chief security officer Alex Stamos said accounts holders spent about $100,000 on some 3,000 ads aimed destabilizing Clinton's campaign.

Citing the findings of the cyber security research firm, the Times story states that many of the fake accounts used for propaganda were automated Twitter accounts capable of precisely timed posts. Researchers found that on Election Day, one group of Twitter bots sent out the hashtag #WarAgainstDemocrats more than 1,700 times.

Twitter boasts 328 million users, and Facebook nearly two billion. Both platforms have grappled with the repercussions of fake accounts.