The Texas Workforce Commission issued a security alert following the disclosure of a massive data breach by the Comptroller’s Office:
The Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) is concerned about the data security breach at the Office of the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts where the personal information of approximately 2 million Unemployment Insurance (UI) claimants was accidentally disclosed on a Comptroller’s server that was accessible to the public. The records contained the names and mailing addresses of individuals, as well as their Social Security numbers, and in some cases, birth dates and driver’s license numbers.
As required by state law to assist the Comptroller’s office in identifying individuals who may have unclaimed property, TWC provided Unemployment Insurance (UI) claimant records to that office in April 2010. TWC entered into an agreement with the Comptroller’s office for the use of this data. The agreement reiterates that any unemployment benefit account information must be treated with the strictest confidentiality as required by law.
TWC sent this data to the Comptroller’s office in a protected manner using Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP), which encrypts the data during transmission over a state controlled network used by state agencies and universities.
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Source: Texas Workforce Commission