by Brian Porter at RMV – The Rocky Mountain Voice
More than 600 BIOS passwords for voting system components in 63 of the state’s 64 counties were publicly shared in a file on Secretary of State Jena Griswold’s website, a news release email from the Colorado Republican Party reads.
An unnamed state official “discretely removed” the passwords on Thursday, Oct. 24, the release states.
“The passwords were not encrypted or otherwise protected – this means they were available for public consumption,” the Colorado Republican Party’s email reads.
The file may have been posted publicly since August, with the amended file posted Oct. 24.
BIOS passwords allow access for “knowledgeable users to fundamentally manipulate systems and data” and to remove trace evidence of doing so, the Colorado Republican Party email states. Neither county clerks nor commissioners have access to these highly confidential files, they say.
“We hear all the time in Colorado from Secretary Griswold and Gov. Polis that we represent the ‘Gold Standard’ for election integrity, a model for the nation,” Colorado Republican Party Chairman Dave Williams said in a statement in the email. “One can only hope that, by the secretary of state posting our most sensitive passwords online to the world, [this] dispels that myth.”
A bad actor would…
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