DENVER – Personal information, including Social Security numbers, of more than 41,000 Colorado residents were exposed on the website of the Colorado Judicial Department, according to the Colorado State Court Administrator’s Office (SCAO).
The state agency was contacted in July by an individual in Alaska who, through an internet search, found a name contained in samples of Colorado jury files located on the Colorado Judicial Department’s internal web site.
The SCAO immediately shut down access to its internal website but not before jury files containing 41,140 names had been accessed externally. The SCAO says the information exposed was not the result of a malicious attack.
The counties whose sample jury lists were known to be exposed were Crowley (2,260 names), Pueblo (15,001 names), Rio Grande (8,878 names) and Weld (15,001 names).
As a precaution, every individual on those lists will receive direct communication from SCAO advising them of this exposure and how to monitor their individual credit information.
The SCAO said it regrets the error and has taken the steps necessary to enhance the security of its intranet.