US State Releases Passwords for Voting Systems
Colorado authorities have unintentionally made passcodes for their voting equipment public by posting them online. Read Full Article at RT.com.
TroibNews 
The Colorado Secretary of State’s Office acknowledged on Tuesday that it inadvertently posted a document on its website containing multiple passwords for voting systems.
Authorities reported that they took swift action after learning of the security breach, which included notifying the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. “The spreadsheet located on the Department’s website improperly included a hidden tab including partial passwords to certain components of Colorado voting systems,” officials stated.
Spokesman Jack Todd emphasized in a press release that this does not present an immediate security threat to Colorado’s elections, nor will it affect the ballot counting process.
Todd further explained that the passwords represent just one layer of security protecting state elections. Each piece of election equipment is safeguarded by two unique passwords, which can only be accessed with “physical in-person access” to the voting system. The systems themselves are monitored by video surveillance and require ID badges for entry. “It is a felony to access voting equipment without authorization,” he noted.
According to 9News, Colorado Republican Vice Chair Hope Scheppelman disseminated a file containing the hidden tab via a mass email. This email also included an affidavit from an unnamed individual who claimed to have downloaded the Excel file from the state secretary’s website and accessed the hidden tab simply by clicking ‘unhide.’
Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold played down the incident. “To be very clear, we do not see this as a full security threat to the state. This is not a security threat,” she told 9News on Tuesday evening, remarking that the document had been on the government website for several months before the issue was disclosed.
The Colorado Republican Party issued a statement asserting that over 600 BIOS passwords for voting equipment in 63 of the state’s 64 counties were compromised. “It’s shocking really. At best, even if the passwords were outdated, it represents significant incompetence and negligence, and it raises huge questions about password management and other basic security protocols at the highest levels within Griswold’s office,” commented Colorado GOP chair Dave Williams.
This incident surfaced less than a week before the US presidential election on November 5, amid mutual accusations from Republicans and Democrats regarding efforts to undermine confidence in the electoral process and sway the election outcome through illegitimate means.
Earlier this month, former Colorado county clerk Tina Peters was sentenced to nine years in prison for permitting unauthorized access to the election system. Peters claimed she was attempting to uncover evidence of alleged voting machine fraud that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump asserted had cost him the 2020 election. Trump continues to allege that the election was “stolen,” despite courts and investigators finding no evidence to support his claims.
Mark B Thomas contributed to this report for TROIB News
Authorities reported that they took swift action after learning of the security breach, which included notifying the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. “The spreadsheet located on the Department’s website improperly included a hidden tab including partial passwords to certain components of Colorado voting systems,” officials stated.
Spokesman Jack Todd emphasized in a press release that this does not present an immediate security threat to Colorado’s elections, nor will it affect the ballot counting process.
Todd further explained that the passwords represent just one layer of security protecting state elections. Each piece of election equipment is safeguarded by two unique passwords, which can only be accessed with “physical in-person access” to the voting system. The systems themselves are monitored by video surveillance and require ID badges for entry. “It is a felony to access voting equipment without authorization,” he noted.
According to 9News, Colorado Republican Vice Chair Hope Scheppelman disseminated a file containing the hidden tab via a mass email. This email also included an affidavit from an unnamed individual who claimed to have downloaded the Excel file from the state secretary’s website and accessed the hidden tab simply by clicking ‘unhide.’
Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold played down the incident. “To be very clear, we do not see this as a full security threat to the state. This is not a security threat,” she told 9News on Tuesday evening, remarking that the document had been on the government website for several months before the issue was disclosed.
The Colorado Republican Party issued a statement asserting that over 600 BIOS passwords for voting equipment in 63 of the state’s 64 counties were compromised. “It’s shocking really. At best, even if the passwords were outdated, it represents significant incompetence and negligence, and it raises huge questions about password management and other basic security protocols at the highest levels within Griswold’s office,” commented Colorado GOP chair Dave Williams.
This incident surfaced less than a week before the US presidential election on November 5, amid mutual accusations from Republicans and Democrats regarding efforts to undermine confidence in the electoral process and sway the election outcome through illegitimate means.
Earlier this month, former Colorado county clerk Tina Peters was sentenced to nine years in prison for permitting unauthorized access to the election system. Peters claimed she was attempting to uncover evidence of alleged voting machine fraud that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump asserted had cost him the 2020 election. Trump continues to allege that the election was “stolen,” despite courts and investigators finding no evidence to support his claims.
Mark B Thomas contributed to this report for TROIB News
