Colorado Has 'Shields Up' Under Threat Of Cyberattacks
DENVER (CBS4) - Colorado officials say they are working every day to protect state systems against cyberattacks.
"On an average day we catch somewhere between 7 million and 8 million cyber incidents," Tony Neal-Graves, Executive Director of Colorado's Office of Information of Technology said. "That's everything from someone mistyped their password to something being a true phishing attack."
Neal-Graves says the need for cybersecurity is heightened after the federal government issued a "shields up" order, warning those in the public and private sector to be more vigilant online.
"Unfortunately, warfare these days has a cyber side to it," Neal-Graves said.
As part of the state's response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Gov. Jared Polis has asked that office to focus resources on the state's cybersecurity, while also taking a closer look at the subcontractors the state works with.
"We have to ask and verify of all our contractors where that business is being done," Polis said during a press conference on Thursday.
Neal-Graves says his office is on high alert when it comes to protecting our state's critical infrastructure.
"Everything you do with the state driver license, taxes, Medicare and Medicaid. We are responsible for all of that info. We have to keep it safe," he said.
It also means our power grid; water treatment plants and transportation hubs are also at an increased risk for an attack.
"We have become so dependent on software to manage those systems, the goal of any attack is to disrupt," he said.
Neal-Graves says they'll be watching the amount of traffic coming in from that part of the world. It can be the first sign someone maybe trying to attack and that everyone should be more cautious in the weeks ahead.
"Whether you are going about your personal life or you are in a work setting you are our first line of defense, we can put all kinds of tools and monitoring in place, but someone clicks on the wrong link and someone can get through," he said.
