The last thing anyone wants to deal with is any type of identity theft, even the thought of having your personal information accessible for others to see is cringe worthy. The tough part is that is the reality for up to 1.8 million people on the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) website for three years.

The question that many people have is, what information was available for people to access? The answer to that question is not a good one. According to CBS, from March of 2019 to January of 2022 the up to 1.8 million people had their Social Security numbers, addresses, names, date of birth, and phone numbers all online for people to see. That is a scary thought when you think that people could use that information to do lots of damage.

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How Was the Personal Information on the Texas State Website Found?

According to the state of Texas, the issue was caused by a programming code that allowed internet access to a protected area of the application. At this point, the Department of Insurance is offering 12 months of credit monitoring and identity protection services at no cost to those who could have been affected.

Those Affected Will Be Contacted by the State of Texas

The state of Texas is sending letters to everyone affected to offer the free services. If you want to call and check if your information was on that website for others to see you can call 855-248-7100 between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m. The Texas Department of Insurance is now looking at ways to improve their policies, procedures and security efforts.

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