The Texas Department of Transportation said it is working to notify those who were affected.
AUSTIN, Texas — An account compromise has led to a large number of crash records being improperly downloaded, according to the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT).
TxDOT said officials identified unusual activity in its Crash Records Information System (CRIS) on May 12. An investigation revealed that the unusual activity stemmed from an account that had been compromised and used to download nearly 300,000 crash reports.
TxDOT said it immediately disabled the compromised account, and it is working to notify people who were affected as a result of the breach.
Personal information included in crash records can contain details like a person’s first and last name, mailing and/or physical address, driver’s license number, license plate number and car insurance policy number, among other information.
Despite notification not being required by law, TxDOT said it has sent letters to notify those impacted whose information was included in the leaked crash reports.
Anyone who received a letter, found at this link, from TxDOT is encouraged to call the department’s assistance line at 1-833-918-5951, Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m. except on holidays. The department said anyone who contacts TxDOT will need to provide the engagement number included in the letter.
The cause of the compromise is under investigation, and the department said it is implementing additional security measures to help prevent similar incidents moving forward.
Based in New York, Stephen Freeman is a Senior Editor at Trending Insurance News. Previously he has worked for Forbes and The Huffington Post. Steven is a graduate of Risk Management at the University of New York.