Texas Crash Report Breach Hits 300K Drivers

When you hit the highways or roads of Texas, you know that as a driver, you are always at risk. You have to pay attention at all times. However, no matter how careful you are, you can’t control other drivers. At some point, you may still end up in a car accident.

For most people, accidents are just fender benders, but for others, they can be much more serious. Either way, a wreck is stressful, and dealing with everything after can rattle you. My significant other was in a wreck in April. It wasn't his fault; he was on a two-lane farm-to-market road and turning left when a driver decided to pass him on the left side, going 75 mph, and hit him mid-turn.

Dealing with insurance and having your car totaled isn't fun. Dealing with injuries is even worse. But then you add insult to injury, and your data ends up being stolen off a government website because your personal information was included on a crash report.

Yesterday, we received a letter in the mail from the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT)

How the Texas Crash Report System Was Breached

TxDOT has a system called the Crash Records Information System (CRIS). This system is the official reporting system for Texas, storing crash reports from across the state. We used this system to purchase a crash report so we could start the insurance process.

The letter stated that on May 12, 2025, the CRIS was breached. Someone was able to access our crash report, which included our personal information. Over 300,000 crash reports were compromised in the breach.

What Personal Information Was Exposed in the TxDOT Breach?

The personal information that may have been obtained was full name, mailing address, driver's license number, vehicle make and model, car insurance policy number, and any injuries sustained during the crash. It also contained a description of the crash.

TxDOT disabled access to the accounts compromised, including ours, and began an investigation into the breach. They have added additional security measures to help prevent another breach in the future.

Steps You Should Take to Protect Yourself After the TxDOT Breach

TxDOT suggested that we take the following steps:

File taxes immediately (Luckily, this didn’t affect us, since we filed earlier in the year.)
Monitor credit reports for suspicious activity
Call the credit reporting companies and add a fraud alert to your credit report

We have taken the appropriate steps to protect our credit, but it just made an already stressful situation worse.

How to Find Out If You Were Affected in the TxDOT CRIS Breach

If your information was compromised in the CRIS breach, you should have received or will soon receive a letter. If you're concerned, you can call 1-833-918-5951 for more information.

Is the TxDOT CRIS System Safe to Use Now?

As mentioned earlier, TxDOT has taken steps to further secure the platform. Since it is the statewide reporting system for crashes, it will be used if you are in a wreck. Just know that anytime you use anything on a digital platform, you’re always at some risk of data exposure. Hackers are finding new ways to get hold of your information.

We opted to use a credit monitoring service to help us keep an eye out for suspicious activity after being a part of multiple data breaches. It's one less thing we have to stress over.