District Attorney's Office investigates Colorado Department of State following password leaks
Nov 08, 2024
The Denver District Attorney's Office has opened an investigation into the Colorado Department of State office after a civil servant from their office released partial passwords to voting systems, in late October. Two signed affidavits were received by the 4th Judicial District Attorney's office that the Colorado Department of State has allegedly violated election laws in Colorado, under statute CRS 1-13-708. (1)Any person who, as determined by rules promulgated by the secretary of state in accordance with article 4 of title 24, accesses without authorization, tampers with, or facilitates the unauthorized access to or tampering with any electronic or electromechanical voting equipment or an election-night reporting system before, during, or after any election provided by law is guilty of a class 5 felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished as provided in section 18-1.3-401. (2)Any person who knowingly publishes or causes to be published passwords or other confidential information relating to a voting system shall immediately have their authorized access revoked and is guilty of a class 5 felony. Based on available information, allegedly the publication of the BIOS passwords originated in the SOS's Denver-based office. The 4th Judicial District Attorney's office is reviewing the situation and will determine if further investigation is necessary, and which office is best suited for additional investigation. BACKGROUND: Reaction following partial election passwords being public for monthsIn a press release on Tuesday, October 29, the Colorado Department of State confirmed an Excel spreadsheet containing hundreds of passwords to Colorado's voting systems was published on the SOSs website for months before the office was notified. The SOS's Office and the El Paso County Clerk and Recorder's Office stated that the BIOS passwords could only be used through in-person contact with the voting equipment, which is kept under 24/7 surveillance. SOS Jena Griswold confirmed that a civil servant was responsible for the error, and has been removed from the department. Griswold has stated that she will not be retiring, and will continue to add "layers of security" to election systems. We reached out to the Colorado Department of State and they provided us the following statement: The Department of State is supporting and working closely with the Denver District Attorneys investigation into the staffs posting of a file that included voting system component passwords. We welcome the additional transparency that this investigation will provide to the public. Please direct any further questions about the investigation by the Denver District Attorney to their office. News5 will continue to cover this story as more information is released. ____Watch KOAA News5 on your time, anytime with our free streaming app available for your Roku, FireTV, AppleTV and Android TV. Just search KOAA News5, download and start watching.