An out-of-state organized crime group obtained thousands of Texas driver’s licenses through a vulnerability in a state system by using stolen information it acquired from the dark web, Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw testified before a House subcommittee.
The ongoing investigation into the security lapse has so far revealed that at least 3,000 Texans might have been victims of the identity thefts, which the DPS first discovered in late December, officials said. None of the Texans whose information has been compromised had yet been notified as of Monday, according to Jeoff Williams, deputy director of DPS Law Enforcement Services.
A “Chinese organized crime group operating out of New York” targeted Texans of Asian descent to provide undocumented migrants with authentic replacement licenses, McCraw told a House Appropriations subcommittee Monday.
The organized crime group, which officials did not publicly identify Monday, obtained Texans’ information through other companies’ data breaches, and no government systems were infiltrated, Williams said. Stolen data and a vulnerable system allowed the group to answer a series of security questions — like a victim’s mother’s maiden name or the model of their first car — required to set up an account on Texas.gov, the state website residents use to request replacement licenses, Williams said.
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“Controls should’ve been in place, and this should’ve never happened,” McCraw said.
Since the security threat was identified, the state removed the option to create an account on Texas.gov by answering only security questions instead of providing the audit number on a driver’s license, and it added safety measures to the website’s credit card transaction process, Williams said.
As the investigation advances, the DPS continues finding Texans whose identities were used by the organized…
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