Colorado National Guard at the ready for Election Day

DENVER, Nov. 6, 2018 - Members of the Colorado National Guard are stationed at the Secretary of State's office today, helping monitor all systems for suspicious traffic.

They are set up in the office's "war room," a designated space for the guard, SOS staff, and members of other state agencies. (See attached photo.)

"We’ve had a relationship with the Colorado National Guard since before 2016 through various cybersecurity training exercises at Regis University. It was a natural fit for the guard to continue supporting elections when we needed them in 2016 and beyond," said Rich Schliep, chief technology officer for the Secretary of State's office. "They have been here for the past several elections and helped us continually prepare and monitor for any type of cyber threats."

The National Guard members are investigating reports from federal agencies regarding known bad actors to ensure entities haven’t compromised Colorado's network. All of the members are highly skilled and trained incident responders and work as defensive cyber operations officers in the guard.

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