Colorado not part of newly alleged Russian cyberattacks on U.S. election infrastructure, officials say
Hackers poke and prod Colorado’s election infrastructure on a regular basis, but the state doesn’t appear to be among the dozens across the U.S. cited in a news report Tuesday as being targeted by Russian computer experts in the months leading up to the 2016 election.
“To our knowledge, we don’t think they were targeting Colorado,” said Trevor Timmons, chief information officer for the Colorado secretary of state’s office. “We didn’t see any (attempted infiltration from Russian groups). We got what looked like some standard type of activity, but we didn’t see concerted intrusion attempts from those Russian-affiliated groups.”
Timmons said the Colorado secretary of state’s office, which oversees elections and voting in the state, was warned about two specific internet protocol — or IP — addresses linked to Russian cyber attackers as well as their methods of attempted intrusions. Cybersecurity officials kept close tabs on the state’s voter systems, looking for any signs of those intruders, but didn’t find anything of particular concern.
The office was responding to a Bloomberg News report Tuesday that Russian hackers tried to hit election-related in as many as 39 states. The news service says in Illinois, there were signs hackers even tried to delete or alter voter data.
Colorado officials say they also don’t believe any of the state’s election systems were using a private, third-party contractor — VR Systems — identified by Bloomberg as being a particular target by Russian hackers.
Read the full story at The Denver Post.
A voter goes into the Boulder County Clerks Office to cast their ballot on Election Day in Longmont, Colo., on Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2016. Photo by Cliff Grassmick /Daily Camera via AP.
A voter goes into the Boulder County Clerks Office to cast their ballot on Election Day in Longmont, Colo., on Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2016. Photo by Cliff Grassmick /Daily Camera via AP.