Texas published 3.5 million unencrypted records online

A TEXAS STATE SERVER accidentally published the personal information of 3.5 million citizens online for a year.

The server holding the personal digital records of millions of Texans was accessible to the public, an obvious breach of privacy. But the Texas State Comptroller said that as far as they know none of the names, mail addresses, driving licence numbers or social security numbers had been compromised.

"I deeply regret the exposure of the personal information that occurred and am angry that it happened," State Comptroller Susan Combs told Reuters.

"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," she added.

The published personal information was held a server being used by the Teacher Retirement System of Texas, the Texas Workforce Commission and the Employees Retirement System of Texas. The Texas Workforce Commission had the largest number of exposed records with data on 2 million people open for public viewing.

It seems that the Texas authorities didn't the practice the privacy they preached. Under Texas state administrative rules, it is illegal for third parties to hold unencrypted personal data in records that are publicly available.

Apparently the unencrypted personal data was only found when a State Comptroller team was scanning other files and realised that 3.5 million records had been sitting on the server for a year. If they hadn't scanned the other files, the data would still be available to the public.

But don't worry, the Texas State Comptroller's office is sending 3.5 million letters of apology. µ