92K Missourians affected by insurance data breach

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - State officials say the personal information of more than 92,000 Missourians was accessed by potential identity thieves who hacked the computer systems of Nationwide Insurance, which also does business as Allied Insurance.

Missouri's insurance department said Friday the Oct. 3 data breach could affect more than 1.1 million people across the country who did business with Nationwide or Allied.

Missouri's insurance director says the breach affected the records of people who got quotes for auto insurance after August 2011. The department says Nationwide believes the hackers accessed names, Social Security numbers, driver's license numbers and birth dates, among other things.

Nationwide is offering free credit monitoring and identity theft protection to people affected by the data breach. The insurer says it's not aware that the information has been misused.