Data breach exposes 3.5m records
The records of about 3.5 million Texans were placed on the public server. Disclosed data included names and mailing addresses, social security numbers, and to varying degrees, information like dates of birth or driver's licence numbers.
The agency said the numbers were embedded in a chain of numbers and not in separate fields.
“I deeply regret the exposure of the personal information that occurred and am angry that it happened,” Texas comptroller Susan Combs said in a statement, states InformationWeek.
“I want to reassure people that the information was sealed off from any public access immediately after the mistake was discovered and was then moved to a secure location. We take information security very seriously and this type of exposure will not happen again.”
KUEV.com says the comptroller's Office is currently investigating how its information went public. It must determine exactly where on the site the security breach occurred.
The Texas attorney general's Office is also investigating. The agencies say there are no signs information has been misused.
The comptroller's Office also has not found any other security lapses. It is currently working on some new software that will automatically encrypt future data.
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