RIO GRANDE COUNTY — The Colorado State Court Administrator’s Office issued a statement on Tuesday that jury files containing personal information had been exposed for 8,878 Rio Grande County residents in addition to potential jurors in Pueblo, Weld and Crowley Counties.
On July 27, the Colorado State Court Administrator’s Office (SCAO) was contacted 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 (Intranet).
The files contained 620,945 names with corresponding Social Security numbers and dates of birth, according to SCAO. SCAO’s technology department immediately shut down internal and external access to all jury files located on the Colorado Judicial Department Intranet.
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.
In researching the exposure, SCAO learned that four out of 65 jury files containing 41,140 names had been accessed externally. 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).
The information exposed was not the result of a malicious attack attempting to access Colorado Judicial files, according to SCAO. Rather, the information was inadvertently exposed.
SCAO regrets this error and has taken the steps necessary to enhance the security of its Intranet. Please e-mail [email protected]. Residents should not contact the local courthouse.