How Texas Residents Can Protect Themselves After HHSC Data Breach

The Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) has recently announced a leak of over 94,000 individual's personal data, sending countless Texans to scramble for fraud prevention measures.

Texas Health and Human Services Commission Data Breach

It was discovered back in January that about 61,000 individuals were impacted by a security breach, offering hackers access to private health care provider data across the state.

When this happened, HHSC actually provided two years of credit monitoring and identity theft protection services to those affected, free of charge, to cover for their 'oopsie'.

Those receiving SNAP benefits were highly likely of being impacted by the exposed accounts. Data that may have been accessed by hackers between June 2021 and Jan. 2025, although not a guarantee, include the following:

Full names & dates of birth
Home addresses & phone numbers
Email addresses
Social Security numbers
Medicare and Medicaid info
Financial, employment, banking, benefits, health, medical, etc.

HHSC's New Discovery

The new discovery of an additional 33,529 recipients affected by the data breach brings the grand total to at least 94,000 since the original security leak.

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The first instance can actually be traced back to July of 2024, where the incident was traced back to cases of employee misconduct.

Because of this, HHSC actually fired nine people since then who they believe were at fault for the lack of attention.

HHSC spoke out about their renewed focus on security during this massive data breach:

HHSC is strengthening internal security controls and working to implement additional fraud preventions measures, including enhanced monitoring and alerts to detect suspicious activity.

So, if you feel that your personal information is at risk for being exposed to scammers as a result of this data leak, you can learn more by calling the toll-free number 866-362-1773, Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

9 Texas Hospitals Get Dismal "D" Rating For Patient Safety

According to The Leapfrog Group, which has collected patient safety data for over 20 years, these were the worst-scoring Texas hospitals for patient safety for Fall 2024.

The Leapfrog Group uses many criteria to produce these scores- everything from how well doctors communicate to how often they leave dangerous items inside patients after surgeries.

Gallery Credit: Renee Raven