Data Breach Costs Texas Health Agency $1.6 Million

(TNS) — The federal government announced Thursday that it has slapped the Texas Health and Human Services Commission with a $1.6 million fine for a data breach that made the personal health information of 6,617 people available online.

The inadvertent release of names, addresses, Social Security numbers and treatment information between 2013 and 2017 violated federal health privacy laws, resulting in the fine, said officials with the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

“No one should have to worry about their private health information being discoverable through a Google search,” said Roger Severino, director of the Office for Civil Rights.