Texas Department of Public Safety Hit by Another Major Data Breach; 115,000 Affected
The Texas Department of Public Safety has reported a second data breach in as many years.
The reported breach was published Monday on the database for data security breaches made available on the Texas Office of the Attorney General's website. A total of 115,071 Texans are affected.
According to the database entry, the following information has been breached for these 115,000 victims: names, addresses, Social Security numbers, driver's license numbers, government-issued ID numbers, medical information, birth dates.
The Texas DPS has not notified the public of this data breach, as indicated on the database entry.
Previous Data Leak in 2022
In December 2022, the Texas DPS released a statement describing an incident wherein the bureau had sent over 3,000 replacement identification cards to unauthorized parties.
An investigation soon found that "international criminal actors" had obtained the replacement identification cards through personal information that had been obtained through unnamed "outside sources". While none of the DPS systems were breached in this incident, those directly impacted by the fraudulently authorized ID cards were notified of the incident through a letter sent in the mail.
The letters were also published on the Texas DPS website in several different languages.
In this recent incident, the agency reported the breach on October 14th but have not indicated a notification was made, nor has there been anything posted on the department's website.
Several news outlets have stated they have reached out to the Texas DPS for comment but at the time of this publishing, a response has not been released.
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