State notification register
Colorado data breach notification law: within 30 days of determining a breach occurred.
Colorado's breach-notification obligations are set by C.R.S. 6-1-716. This page summarises the deadline to notify affected residents, the attorney general notification threshold, whether a private right of action exists, and the penalties for late or missing notification. Every provision is cited to its source statute and was verified in June 2026.
Individual deadline
30 days
From discovery / determination
AG notification
500
500 or more Colorado residents
Private action
No
Only the Colorado Attorney General may enforce
Statute
CO
C.R.S. 6-1-716
Section CO.1
What the statute requires
Under C.R.S. 6-1-716, a business that owns or licenses computerized personal information of Colorado residents must notify affected individuals within 30 days of determining a breach occurred.
Attorney general or state-agency notification is 500 or more colorado residents. Where required, the timeline is: within the same 30-day window.
Section CO.2
What triggers notification
Like most US state statutes, notification is triggered by the unauthorized acquisition of unencrypted, unredacted computerized personal information that compromises its security, confidentiality, or integrity. Two concepts recur across the states and apply here.
Encryption safe harbor
Personal information that was encrypted, and where the encryption key was not also acquired, generally does not trigger notification. A stolen device with full-disk encryption is typically a non-event; an unencrypted record, or an encrypted record where the key was exposed alongside it, is a reportable breach.
Who must be notified
- [1] Affected Colorado residents: 30 days
- [2] Attorney general / state agency: 500 or more colorado residents
- [3] Consumer reporting agencies where the breach is large-scale
Section CO.3
Penalties and enforcement
Treated as a deceptive trade practice; up to $20,000 per violation with no aggregate cap.
Private right of action: No. Only the Colorado Attorney General may enforce.
Primary source:Colorado statute C.R.S. 6-1-716; verified June 2026 against state statutory summaries and the underlying statute text.
Section CO.4
How this compares to the strictest states
The strictest US deadlines are 30 days (California, Florida, Washington, Colorado, Maine, New York, New Jersey). The majority of states use a qualitative "without unreasonable delay" standard with no fixed day cap. Here is where Colorado sits.
Colorado imposes a fixed 30-day deadline. That places it among the strictest states in the country.
Cross-references
Index / All 50 states + DC
→The full register: deadline and AG threshold for every state.
Schedule 09 / Notification laws
→Global frameworks and the cost of notification.
01 / Breach cost calculator
→Estimate your Colorado breach exposure, including notification cost.
Regulation / GDPR
→The 72-hour clock and 4%-of-revenue fine framework.
Cost / Notification
→Why notification is roughly 6% of total breach cost.
Schedule F / Reference Q&A
Frequently Asked Questions
Primary source:Colorado data breach notification statute (C.R.S. 6-1-716). Provisions verified June 2026 against state statutory summaries (Recording Law US data-privacy series, 2026 edition), the IAPP US State Data Breach Notification Chart, Foley & Lardner's chart, and the underlying statute text.