Hackers Stole 300,000 Crash Reports From Texas Department of Transportation

The Texas Department of Transportation has disclosed a data breach impacting the personal information included in 300,000 crash reports.

The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) says hackers accessed its Crash Records Information System (CRIS) and downloaded roughly 300,000 crash reports.

The incident, TxDOT says, was discovered on May 12 and occurred after a system account was compromised and used to access information stored in CRIS.

The agency says it disabled access to the compromised account immediately after identifying the suspicious activity and launched an investigation on how the compromise occurred. It also implemented additional security measures to prevent similar occurrences.

“TxDOT is required by law to maintain a Crash Records Information System (CRIS), which includes details regarding traffic crashes and the individuals involved in those incidents,” the government agency notes in the notification letter (PDF) to the impacted individuals.

The crash reports may include personal information such as ...