Comptroller Offeres Additional Credit Protection

Comptroller Susan Combs is continuing to clean up the privacy mess her office made when it exposed the Social Security numbers and birth dates of about 3.5 million Texans. In a press release, Combs said her office had negotiated a 2nd discounted credit monitoring subscription for those affected by the security breach. The discount being offered by CSIdentity Protector joins one already offered by national credit reporting company Experian. Both services are offering subscription discounts. The state is not subsidizing the services.

Combs fired four employees in the days after the office discovered the personal information had been left unprotected on a state web server for about a year.

Attorney General Greg Abbott has already announced the possibility of a phone scam targeting Texans affected by the data release. And the Comptroller has set up a web site that gives advice on what people can do to keep their data from being used to open fraudulent credit accounts.

The AG and the FBI are continuing a criminal investigation into the incident.