I-15 Core Construction was the bane of my existence. It’s over now, but there’s more bad news from the fast lane: if you have an Express Pass account, your personal information might be stolen. Read to find out!
If you live in Utah, you know about driving on I-15. If you want to travel north or south in the state, it’s the only way to go. It’s a terrible commute if you hit rush hour traffic. Sure, you can drive in the express lane, but maybe that’s not the best idea anymore. Why? Because if you paid freeway Express lane tolls online, you might have just been hacked.
Here are the details: Etan Industries, a third-party private vendor, operated the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) website for the Express Pass. Here more than 16,000 active users had signed up to pay tolls electronically. Almost 5,000 more accounts were expired, but the company still had their records.
According to Stephanie Weteling, a spokeswoman for the Utah Department of Technology Services (UDTS), “The information that would have been available to anyone is the name, the address, the email address, the last four digits of a credit card number, and the security questions and answers on the account.” 21,000 Utahns possibly just had all this information stolen? That’s ridiculous.
The website is still currently offline, and those with users on the site will not have access until further notice. “We will look at everything and make sure it looks secure — and we will get that back up online as soon as we’re fully confident that the website has been secured,” said Weteling.
Am I at Risk Right Now?
There is a silver lining to the story. The vulnerability was found by a user of the site who found the exploit and data of his own account and others vulnerable and warned officials. Hat’s off to him (he was not named) for not stealing the data of others, and instead, looked out for himself and others. Personal information is valuable. I’m glad he knew that.
When will the site be back up? It’s unknown, but hopefully will be back up and running soon. Users should check back regularly to see when they can access their account again.
It seems like the list of hacked sites only grows as the days go by, with no end in site. I feel the same way when there a crash near Bangerter and the point of the mountain. Is there anything that can be done? My question is, will less people drive in the Express lane now? Maybe, but then again, maybe not.
The Express lane is also known as the Carpool lane because you can enter the lane for free if you have 2 or more people in the car. That is a viable loophole: you get to use the fast lane AND don’t have to put your personal information at risk. I guess carpooling has more benefits than just being better for the environment. Just remember, slow traffic should stay to the right, and change your password on your Express Pass account.