Data breach at Department of Insurance exposed personal information of 1.8 million Texans, audit says

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An enormous safety breach on the Texas Division of Insurance coverage leaked the non-public data of just about 2 million Texans for almost three years, in accordance with a state audit launched final week.

The division stated the non-public data of 1.8 million staff who’ve filed compensation claims — together with Social Safety numbers, addresses, dates of beginning, telephone numbers and details about staff’ accidents — was accessible on-line to members of the general public from March 2019 to January 2022. The division stated it was made conscious of the breach in January.

The division didn’t formally acknowledge the safety problem till the state auditor’s workplace carried out a evaluate. After the audit, the Division of Insurance coverage despatched out a discover acknowledging it turned conscious of the problem in January.

The breach occurred due to a difficulty within the programming code within the division’s internet utility that manages staff’ compensation knowledge. The difficulty within the code allowed members of the general public to entry a protected a part of that on-line utility, the division stated.

The state’s insurance coverage division stated it might present 12 months of free credit score monitoring and identification safety companies to people whose knowledge was breached.

This can be a growing story; test again later for extra.

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