HomeMy WebLinkAbout20220784.tiffCOLORADO
Governor Jared Polis
March 8, 2022
Dear Community Leaders,
Colorado stands with Ukraine in their fight to protect democracy and freedom. We are
committed to doing our part to strongly penalize Putin's extreme aggression.
By the nature of your role, your continued success in providing Colorado cybersecurity during
the geopolitical tensions between Ukraine and Russia is more important than ever.
My administration has taken swift actions, directed agencies to review relevant State
contracts to determine if any are with Russian state-owned companies directly or as
subcontractor and directed state agencies to work to terminate such contracts if Russian
state-owned companies are found to be contractors or subcontractors and ensure that future
procurement efforts analyze any possible connections with Russian state-owned companies.
I was pleased to see Colorado PERA quickly divested $7.2M from a Russian bank and the
Governor urges the complete divestiture of the PERA Trust Fund from any and all Russian
state-owned institutions. I have urged institutions of higher education to examine divestiture
from Russian owned assets.
I also directed the Office of New Americans to support Ukrainian -born Coloradans and
embrace those who are fleeing this conflict and Colorado is also severing diplomatic ties with
Russia and are no longer recognizing the consular mission.
Be assured, we are aggressively pursuing other steps to hold Putin and Russia accountable for
their actions against democracy and freedom. Our administration is also working to identify
and focus resources on protecting the state's critical infrastructure from Russian cyber-
attacks or misinformation efforts. Therefore, we want to highlight for you the messages that
are prevalent today regarding the nature of being protected and safe regarding your
online/cyber hygiene during these challenging times.
The Cybersecurity B Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) within the Federal Department of
Homeland Security has several important resources for you to take advantage of to keep your
systems safe from intrusion that could put Coloradans at risk. These include:
• The Shields Up program provides excellent guidance to organizations on cybersecurity,
https: //www.cisa.gov/shields-up
• The CISA Insights website gives detailed intelligence on the threats that exist,
https://www.cisa.gov/insiqhts
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• CISA's Catalog of their services is also an important resource,
https://www.cisa.sov/publication/cisa-services-catalog
Other cybersecurity resources include:
• The Center for Internet Security provides excellent resources,
(ClSecuritv.org)
• The National Cyber Security Alliance provides insights for businesses and individuals,
(www.staysafeonline.orq)
• The National CyberSecurity Center provides educational and other cybersecurity
resources to K-12 and adults,
(https: / /cvber-center.org)
• STOP. THINK. CONNECT.TM' Campaign website provides homes, schools, workplaces, and
businesses with ways to put cybersecurity knowledge into practice,
(www. stopth i n kcon nect. org)
In addition to those resources, it is important to spread the message that everyone should
lower their threshold of reporting suspicious online activity. Intrusions, attempted intrusion,
phishing efforts, suspicious links, etc. should all be reported to the Colorado Information
Analysis Center (CIAC) at 877-509-2422 (available 24 hours/day) or online at
https://ciacco.org/ then submit a Community Member Suspicious Activity Report.
If you believe that you are experiencing an active cyber intrusion, data breach, or
ransomware event please also report to the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center at
https://www.ic3.sov/Home/FileComplaint and CISA Central 888-282-0970
or https: / /www.us-cert.sov/report.
Finally, we also want help to amplify this message as widely as possible and share with your
partners that now is the time to update the security of your online systems and
accounts. Change passwords to strong passwords and turn on Two -Factor authentication.
Now is the time to protect, defend, and report against suspicious online activity for
yourselves and those within your circles.
Thank you for helping to keep Colorado Safe.
Sincerely,
el,
Jared Polis
Governor
State of Colorado
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