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By Alia Shoaib
Reporter
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More than 3 million Texas hunting and fishing license holders may have had their personal information obtained in a data breach, officials have warned.
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) said an unauthorized actor may have accessed customer data, including driver license information, passport numbers, email addresses, phone numbers and residential addresses.
The agency said Social Security numbers, dates of birth and financial information, including credit card details, were not compromised in the incident.
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The TPWD said in a release: “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.”
A TPWD spokesperson told Newsweek in an emailed statement on Friday: “We believe current and future customer data are not at risk.”
Advice Regarding Data Breach Warning
Affected customers are being offered one year of free credit monitoring through Kroll.
Those who may have been affected have been advised they can take the following precautions:
- Actively monitor for the possibility of fraud and identity theft by reviewing your credit report and financial statements for any unauthorized activity. If you notice any unauthorized activity, you should immediately notify the relevant financial institution or credit bureau reporting the activity.
- Check, freeze and monitor your credit. Contact the three major credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian and TransUnion) to freeze your credit. It is free to freeze your credit, and it makes it difficult for identity thieves to open new accounts in your name. You can also place a free, one-year fraud alert by contacting any of the three credit bureaus.
- Scammers may use personal information to impersonate companies or officials. Avoid clicking links or sharing personal details unless you are certain the request is legitimate.
If you have any additional questions, please call (844) 959-7123 for more information.
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The agency added that it is “committed to continuing to work with the license system vendor to implement increased safeguards to prevent future incidents.”
This includes immediate steps taken to strengthen access controls for customer profile data, with additional security features to be added.
The cybersecurity incident was detected by Texas Cyber Command, and it involved the TPWD license system vendor that handles the sale of hunting and fishing licenses. There is no evidence that customers under the age of 18 were affected by the breach.
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