The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) suffered a massive data breach after a hacker cracked the vendor system that sells hunting and fishing licenses.
In a new notification, TPWD acknowledges the hacker “may have” obtained driver’s license information, passport numbers, email addresses, phone numbers and residential addresses from more than 3 million customers.
The department did note, however, that Social Security numbers, birth dates and financial information remained secure.
TPWD says it is working closely with the license system vendor to add new security features and enhanced monitoring services following the breach.
“We recognize the seriousness of this issue and have identified and implemented additional security options to better protect customer information. Many of our staff are hunters and anglers and were affected by this incident. We are committed to continuing to work with the license system vendor to implement increased safeguards to prevent future incidents.”
The department also says there is no evidence any information from minors was accessed in the breach or that any specific group was targeted by the hacker.
TPWD notes that impacted customers can receive one year of free credit monitoring through the risk advisory firm Kroll. The deadline to enroll with Kroll is September 14.
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