Colorado National Guard Called On To Provide Election Cybersecurity

DENVER (CBS4) - Gov. Jared Polis issued an executive order for Colorado National Guard members to provide cybersecurity during the 2020 election. The cyber task force is made up of six soldiers and airmen who will support the Secretary of State.

The team, part of the Cyber Protection Team, the 140th Communications Flight, and the Defense Cyber Operations Element, will provide network monitoring during the election to prevent attacks and will support election integration. The Colorado National Guard has helped for the last eight years to make sure elections in our state go smoothly.

"This cyber defense support is a perfect example of how the training and resources we receive for our warfight mission directly informs our homeland response capability," The Adjutant General of Colorado U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Laura Clellan said in a news release.

Secretary of State Jena Griswold says attempts to attack the election process could include disinformation campaigns on social media, stolen data and fake website.

She says a new rapid response team will work alongside the National Guard team.

"We have definitely increased our ability of both identifying foreign disinformation over the last really six months, and also we are pushing out a public awareness initiative to just remind Coloradans to go to trusted sources of information when it comes to the electoral process," said Griswold.

Griswold says the best advice for voters is to be aware of threats and only use trusted sources for information including govotecolorado.org.