Denver, CO

Denver lacks comprehensive approach to cybersecurity risks, city auditor says

Published

1 year ago

June 24, 2024

Denver lacks comprehensive approach to cybersecurity risks, city auditor says

Denver lacks a comprehensive program to assess potentially disastrous cybersecurity risks, City Auditor Tim O’Brien said in a new report.

The city’s current approach can best be described as “informal,” O’Brien said, particularly when it comes to oversight of independent city agencies or cultural facilities — like the Denver Art Museum and Denver Zoo — that operate on subnetworks tied into the city’s broader system.

O’Brien cataloged his office’s findings in an audit report released Thursday.

The report is the product of a review of city data, processes and planning efforts over two years — from Jan. 1, 2022, through Dec. 31, 2023.

The audit team found that city staff did not consistently complete quarterly mandatory cybersecurity training. The city also lacks a specific training regime for employees responsible for citywide information technology risk management.

O’Brien is urging Denver Technology Services — the city department tasked with overseeing and managing all physical and virtual technology that touches the city’s network — to overhaul its approach and create clear guidelines for how every wing of city government handles data and technology risks.

“Through awareness of cybersecurity risks and clear expectation-setting for appropriate use of technology, the city can trust its employees to do their part in protecting data and information,” O’Brien said in a statement.

The auditor’s office recommended seven steps that Technology Services should take to remedy Denver’s shortcomings.

Those include:

Developing a citywide risk assessment process
Developing risk management training
Creating information-exchange agreements that would require independent agencies and facilities to share information about high-level technology risks with the department

Sumana Nallapati, Denver’s chief information officer, accepted all seven recommendations in a response letter sent to the auditor’s office on June 7. Mayor Mike Johnston hired her in September.

Many facets of what O’Brien recommends are already underway, Nallapati wrote in her response letter.

“(Technology Services) intends to create a robust and holistic organizational risk management structure identifying roles, responsibilities, documentation, risk assumption, identification of training for necessary roles and escalation processes associated to technical risk,” Nallapati wrote in part.

Her letter acknowledged the administration’s limited power to influence independent city agencies. While Technology Services accepted the recommendation to pursue information exchange agreements, Nallapati wrote that her department plans to reach out to independent agencies to see whether they would be willing to sign memorandums of understanding — or MOUs — focused on risk assessment.

“(Technology Services) cannot commit to a completion date for any such efforts, or that a successful MOU will ever be reached,” she wrote.

The audit report cites officials with Denver County Court as specifically asserting that they have the legal authority to operate independently as the judicial branch of city government. Court officials argue that they should not be required to formally communicate potential cyber security risks to Technology Services, the report says.

“But this assertion of independence with limited collaboration undermines the greater good of protecting the city from costly and damaging cyberattacks…” the audit team wrote.

Denver’s approach leaves the city more vulnerable to equipment failures, service disruptions and cyberattacks, the auditor’s office found. Those risk factors could cost Denver millions of dollars per day if any of them were ever to lead to full city network failure, according to the report.

In a statement to The Denver Post, Nallapati said her department is “committed to working across the city enterprise on continuous improvement of technology risk management strategies.”

Colorado has seen its share of high-profile cyberattacks in recent years.

In 2018, a ransomware attack temporarily knocked the Colorado Department of Transportation’s back-end operations offline. It cost the state between $1 million and $1.5 million just to bring the agency’s functionality back to 80% of normal in the months that followed.

Earlier this year, a cyberattack hobbled the Office of the Colorado State Public Defender and delayed hundreds of court hearings. The agency acknowledged that personal data including clients’ Social Security numbers may have been compromised during that episode.

Stay up-to-date with Colorado Politics by signing up for our weekly newsletter, The Spot.

Source link

Click to comment

Denver, CO

Denver hosts Houston on 4-game home skid

Published

10 hours ago

December 14, 2025

Press Room

Houston Rockets (16-6, third in the Western Conference) vs. Denver Nuggets (18-6, second in the Western Conference)

Denver; Monday, 9:30 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Denver hosts Houston looking to end its four-game home slide.

The Nuggets are 13-5 in conference games. Denver averages 125.5 points while outscoring opponents by 9.6 points per game.

The Rockets are 9-5 in Western Conference play. Houston is fifth in the NBA scoring 120.6 points per game while shooting 48.6%.

The Nuggets’ 13.5 made 3-pointers per game this season are only 0.8 more made shots on average than the 12.7 per game the Rockets give up. The Rockets average 120.6 points per game, 4.7 more than the 115.9 the Nuggets give up.

The teams meet for the second time this season. In the last meeting on Nov. 22 the Nuggets won 112-109 led by 34 points from Nikola Jokic, while Reed Sheppard scored 27 points for the Rockets.

TOP PERFORMERS: Jokic is averaging 29.5 points, 12.3 rebounds and 10.9 assists for the Nuggets. Hunter Tyson is averaging 2.0 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.

Alperen Sengun is averaging 23 points, 9.4 rebounds, seven assists and 1.5 steals for the Rockets. Amen Thompson is averaging 20.0 points over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Nuggets: 7-3, averaging 126.7 points, 41.4 rebounds, 30.3 assists, 5.8 steals and 4.1 blocks per game while shooting 53.1% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 119.8 points per game.

Rockets: 7-3, averaging 115.7 points, 47.2 rebounds, 24.8 assists, 9.3 steals and 5.1 blocks per game while shooting 48.0% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 107.0 points.

INJURIES: Nuggets: Christian Braun: out (ankle), Aaron Gordon: out (hamstring), Julian Strawther: day to day (back).

Rockets: Fred VanVleet: out for season (acl), Dorian Finney-Smith: out (ankle), Tari Eason: out (oblique).

——

The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.

Source link

Denver, CO

Denver police seeking white 2010 Toyota Corolla allegedly involved in hit-and-run crash

Published

22 hours ago

December 13, 2025

Press Room

Denver police seeking white 2010 Toyota Corolla allegedly involved in hit-and-run crash

December 13, 2025 / 12:23 PM MST
/ CBS Colorado

Police have issued a Medina Alert to try to locate a white Toyota Corolla that was allegedly involved in a hit-and-run crash that seriously injured a pedestrian in Denver on Saturday.

The crash happened just before 9 a.m. near South Federal Boulevard and West Kentucky Avenue in west Denver.

Denver Police Department

The specific car being sought is a white 2010 Corolla with Colorado license plate EDM-U42, according to Denver police. Investigators say the driver of the Corolla struck a pedestrian in a crosswalk at the intersection, causing serious bodily injury. The driver then allegedly fled northbound on South Federal Boulevard.

Police say there will be slight to moderate damage to the front bumper.

Source link

Denver, CO

Man found guilty of murder 9 years after girlfriend’s body was found in Denver-bound Amtrak train

Published

1 day ago

December 13, 2025

Press Room

Man found guilty of murder 9 years after girlfriend’s body was found in Denver-bound Amtrak train

DENVER — A Denver man was convicted Friday of murdering his girlfriend, nearly 10 years after her body was discovered inside a Denver-bound Amtrak train.

Angelo Valentino Mantych, 43, was convicted by a jury of his peers on one count of first-degree murder after deliberation for killing 28-year-old Marina Placensia while on-board an Amtrak overnight train that was headed to Denver from Wisconsin the morning of Sept. 1, 2016.

It took jurors about five hours of deliberation to reach the guilty verdict on Friday. Each was individually polled on their decision — and all of them confirmed their verdict.

Mantych, who was in court Friday for the reading of the verdict, hanged his head as it was read. He was scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 9.

Meanwhile, Placensia’s family was overcome with emotion when they heard the guilty verdict. Outside of the courtroom, Placensia’s father told Denver7 the day felt like Christmas, New Years Eve, and his birthday rolled into one day.

Denver7 also spoke with a juror, who said the group was united in their decision and worked well together.

First-degree murder carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole, but the sentencing hearing will be an opportunity for those who loved Placensia to tell the judge how this loss has impacted their lives.

The two sides delivered their closing arguments on Friday morning.

Prosecutors said Placensia took the train that day with her four children, three of whom she shared with Mantych, to escape years of abuse and domestic violence. They argued that a “loss of control” served as motive for the killing. Prosecutors aimed to discredit the alternative explanations offered for Placensia’s death, pointing to what they said was clear evidence of a smothering.

Man found guilty of murder 9 years after girlfriend’s body was found in Denver-bound Amtrak train

The defense’s closing arguments centered around an apparent lack of commotion on the train on the night of Placensia’s death, saying it would be “almost impossible” for her to have been smothered for several minutes without their children noticing. Defense attorneys also called into question the integrity of an investigation that saw significant delays.

The case against Mantych is one Denver7 has been following since at least October 2023, when Mantych was charged with murder in connection with the crime.

An arrest affidavit obtained by Denver7 in the case showed the woman had several bruises on her body “consistent with an assault or struggle,” but investigators were not able to identify an obvious cause of death at the time. An autopsy later found blunt impacts to her head, trunk and extremities.

The investigation took several years to piece together, something the defense brought into question during closing arguments Friday.

“I think this case is such a great example of law enforcement just remaining committed to a case that they knew something happened, but we just had challenges with filing it, and so it’s a real testament to endurance and commitment by the entire team who’s worked on it since 2016,” said Assistant District Attorney Lara Mullin outside of the courtroom.

“It sends a very strong message to offenders who think that they can continue to perpetrate these types of crimes and violence on victims of domestic violence, that there will be justice sought and that we will not relent in our pursuit of that justice for victims of domestic violence,” said Amelia Sapp, the Chief Trial Deputy of Domestic Violence and Child Victims.

During the investigative process, one person told detectives that Mantych beat Placensia daily, and another said she had to go to a hospital multiple times for her injuries from the assaults, according to arresting documents. At least one of the reports obtained from the Racine Police Department and dated March 13, 2015, showed Mantych had punched Placensia’s ear several times, causing her to lose hearing in that ear. He was arrested and charged with assault after that incident.

On May 18, 2023, a doctor confirmed he believed Placensia’s cause of death was the result of asphyxia from suffocation and said her injuries were consistent with suffocation cases in both living and deceased patients, the affidavit stated. He said he believed her injuries were the result of an assault, including blunt force trauma and suffocation.

Mantych pleaded not guilty to the first-degree murder charge on June 21, 2024, according to court documents.

His trial began at the beginning of the month.

He did not testify in the trial and his defense team declined to comment on the verdict.

Editor’s note: If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, help is available through Violence Free Colorado or the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233.

Coloradans making a difference | Denver7 featured videos

Denver7 is committed to making a difference in our community by standing up for what’s right, listening, lending a helping hand and following through on promises. See that work in action, in the videos above.

Source link