TxDOT Data Breach in May Released 300K Crash Reports

(TNS) — Getting in a car accident is bad enough, considering the potential seriousness of the crash, the headaches over insurance claims and, possibly, the cooperation of the other parties involved. But this summer some Texas drivers involved in accidents have yet another issue to deal with: their data being released.

The Texas Department of Transportation recently announced that a compromise "has led to improper downloads of a large number of crash records." The data breach was found May 12 in TxDOT's Crash Records Information System, leading to the discovery of about 300,000 wrongly downloaded crash reports.

"Personal information included in crash records may contain: first and last name, mailing and/or physical address, driver license number, license plate number, car insurance policy number and other information," wrote TxDOT in its June announcement.

PAST TEXAS DATA BREACHES

Data breaches are uncommon but occur, and they have recently in Texas. Back in January, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission revealed that the information of at least 61,000 individuals was potentially compromised in a November 2024 data breach. Seven state employees were fired after the breach was made public.

A September 2024 ransomware attack against Texas Tech University's Health Sciences Center and Health Sciences Center El Paso impacted potentially as many as 1.4 million individuals.

Plus, on two occasions in 2024, Russian hackers accessed emails, documents and personal data in breaches involving, respectively, Houston-area mental health patients and several state agencies and public universities.

TxDOT said after the May breach that it has been sending letters to impacted individuals informing them of the incident. TxDOT is hoping those impacted call an assistance line at 1-833-918-5951 while it investigates the matter.

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