By Jasper Ward
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Partial passwords to some components of the state’s voting techniques that had been by accident posted on-line pose no menace to Nov. 5 normal election, the Colorado Division of State stated on Tuesday.
The division stated a spreadsheet situated on its web site “improperly” included a hidden tab together with partial passwords to sure parts of Colorado voting techniques.
“This doesn’t pose an instantaneous safety menace to Colorado’s elections, nor will it impression how ballots are counted,” it stated.
The division stated it took instant motion and knowledgeable the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Safety Company (CISA).
A CISA spokesperson stated the company is conscious of the incident and is in communication with the Colorado Secretary of State’s Workplace. We perceive the incident solely impacts voting techniques in Colorado and defer to the Secretary of State’s workplace for mitigation specifics.
Hope Scheppelman, the vice chair of the state’s Republican Occasion, stated over 600 passwords for voting techniques in 63 of Colorado’s 64 counties had been shared on the web site. She stated the passwords weren’t encrypted they usually had been posted since not less than August.
Scheppelman launched an affidavit of an individual claiming to have accessed the passwords from Aug. 8 to Oct. 23. The title of the individual was blocked out. Reuters was not in a position to independently confirm it.
In its assertion, the Colorado Division of State stated the state’s election course of contains many layers of safety.
“There are two distinctive passwords for each election gear element, that are saved in separate locations and held by completely different events,” it stated. “Passwords can solely be used with bodily in-person entry to a voting system.”
It added that there are strict chain of custody necessities that monitor when voting techniques element has been accessed and by whom.
