Breach filing
ArchivedUnited Healthcare Services, Inc. Single Affiliated Covered Entity: 26,561 individuals, May 2023.
United Healthcare Services, Inc. Single Affiliated Covered Entity reported a breach of unsecured protected health information to the HHS Office for Civil Rights on 5 May 2023. The filing records the organisation as a health plan in Connecticut and lists 26,561 individuals affected, which makes it the 27th largest of the 144 Connecticut filings on the register and the 252nd largest of the 746 filings submitted nationally in 2023. Among the 16 Connecticut filings made in 2023 it ranks 4th. United Healthcare Services, Inc. Single Affiliated Covered Entity submitted 1 further report on the same day (1,971 individuals); this page covers the largest and lists the others below.
Individuals affected
26,561
As reported to HHS
Modelled cost (IBM 2025)
$4.25M
Method shown, not disclosed
Rank in CT
27th
of 144 Connecticut filings
Rank in 2023
252nd
of 746 filings nationally
Section F.1 / The filing
As posted by HHS OCR
Every value below is the portal's own field for this filing, plus its rank within the register.
- Covered entity type
- Health Plan
- Individuals affected
- 26,561
- Breach submission date
- 5 May 2023
- Submission year
- 2023
- Type of breach
- Hacking/IT Incident
- Location of breached information
- Network Server
- Business associate present
- No
- State
- Connecticut (CT)
- Portal status
- listed in the HHS OCR breach portal archive
- Rank in Connecticut by size
- 27th of 144
- Rank in 2023 nationally
- 252nd of 746
- Connecticut median filing
- 5,000 individuals
- Register id (derived)
- CT-20230505-united-healthcare-services-single-affili
Section F.2 / In context
Where this filing sits in Connecticut and in 2023
OCR classifies the incident as a hacking or IT incident, with the breached information held in a network server. Hacking/IT Incident is the type recorded on 91 of the 144 Connecticut filings (63%) and on 82% of all filings submitted in 2023. Network Server appears on 44% of Connecticut filings.
No business associate is recorded on the filing; 35% of Connecticut filings do involve one. At 26,561 individuals the breach is 5.3 times the Connecticut median filing of 5,000 and 6.6 times the national median of 4,000 across all 7,884 filings. It sits in the 10,000 to 99,999 band, which holds 1,938 filings.
As of 28 August 2026 the case is listed in the HHS OCR breach portal archive. OCR's closing summary of the case is reproduced in full below.
Connecticut's breach notification statute (Conn. Gen. Stat. 36a-701b) requires notice to affected residents without unreasonable delay, no later than 60 days after discovery. Its attorney general threshold: all breaches (no minimum resident threshold). The HIPAA Breach Notification Rule ran alongside it: notice to affected individuals and to HHS without unreasonable delay and no later than 60 days after discovery, which is the clock that put this filing on the portal.
Multiplying 26,561 individuals by IBM's $160 customer-PII cost per record (Cost of a Data Breach 2025, the figure the site's calculator uses) gives a modelled $4.25M; the 2026 edition's $192 gives $5.10M. Both are modelled estimates with the method shown, not costs disclosed by United Healthcare Services, Inc. Single Affiliated Covered Entity. For scale, IBM's 2026 average cost of a healthcare breach is $6.64M, so this filing models at 0.8 times the sector average.
Section F.3 / OCR closing summary
The portal's archived description, in full
Written by the Office for Civil Rights when the case was closed and reproduced verbatim from the HHS export.
The covered entity (CE), United Healthcare Services - Single Affiliated Covered Entity, reported that it experienced a malware incident that affected the protected health information (PHI) of 26,561 individuals. The PHI involved included names, birthdates, addresses, claims information, and health insurance and other treatment information. The CE notified HHS, affected individuals, and the media. In response to the breach, the CE implemented additional administrative, technical, and security safeguards.
Section F.4 / Same-day filings
1 further report by United Healthcare Services, Inc. Single Affiliated Covered Entity on 5 May 2023
Separate rows on the HHS portal with their own counts; this page covers the largest and lists the rest here rather than giving each its own page.
| Covered entity | Type | Individuals | Submitted | Breach type | Location | BA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Healthcare Services, Inc. Single Affiliated Covered Entity | Health Plan | 1,971 | 5 May 2023 |
Section F.5 / Modelled cost
26,561 individuals through IBM's per-record figures
Modelled cost / method shown, not a disclosed cost
ModelledIBM 2025 customer PII, $160 per record
$4.25M
26,561 x $160
IBM 2026 customer PII, $192 per record
$5.10M
26,561 x $192
Method: individuals affected, as reported by United Healthcare Services, Inc. Single Affiliated Covered Entity to HHS, multiplied by IBM's customer-PII cost per record (Cost of a Data Breach 2025 Figure 6 and the 2026 edition). No cost has been disclosed by the entity for this filing; the figure is a planning estimate, not a fact about the breach. IBM's per-record figures come from mid-volume breaches and IBM cautions against applying them to breaches involving millions of records; the site's per-record page explains where the multiplication holds and where it breaks down.
Context: IBM's average cost of a healthcare breach is $6.64M in the 2026 report ($7.42M in 2025); the global average across all sectors was $4.44M in 2025.
Cost per record: method and limits / Healthcare breach cost, IBM 2026
Section F.6 / Notification clock
Connecticut statute and the HIPAA rule
State notification statute
Connecticut: Conn. Gen. Stat. 36a-701b
- Notice to individuals
- Without unreasonable delay, no later than 60 days after discovery
- Attorney general threshold
- All breaches (no minimum resident threshold) (No later than the time notice is provided to affected residents)
- Private right of action
- No: Non-compliance is an unfair trade practice; only the AG enforces
- Penalty
- Up to $5,000 per willful violation under CUTPA, plus injunctive relief and restitution
The HIPAA Breach Notification Rule runs alongside the state statute: notice to affected individuals and to HHS without unreasonable delay and no later than 60 days after discovery.
Section F.7 / Peer filings
Connecticut filings closest in size
Neighbours by size rank among Connecticut filings in 2023, topped up from other years where 2023 has too few. Filings of 10,000 or more link to their own page.
| Covered entity | Type | Individuals | Submitted | Breach type | Location | BA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Healthcare Services, Inc. Single Affiliated Covered Entity | Health Plan | 315,915 | 7 Sep 2023 | |||
| Merritt Healthcare Advisors | Business Associate | 88,740 | 15 Mar 2023 | |||
| Atlas Healthcare Group | Healthcare Provider | 10,831 | 13 Oct 2023 | |||
| Saisystems International, Inc. | Business Associate | 10,063 | 22 Nov 2023 |
Index / Companion schedules
13 HHS breach register
→Hub: every filing, by state, year and entity.
04 Biggest breaches
→Mega-breaches with primary-source cost figures.
Industry / Healthcare
→IBM 2026: $6.64M average, 13 years at #1.
Regulation / HIPAA penalties
→OCR enforcement tiers and the 60-day rule.
11 50-state laws
→Deadline, AG threshold and penalties per state.
Cost / Per record
→Where the per-record model is reliable.
Provenance
Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights, Breach Portal (breaches affecting 500 or more individuals), retrieved 2026-08-28. Public domain. Individuals affected and dates as reported by the covered entity.
Portal: ocrportal.hhs.gov breach report. Statutory basis: HITECH Act section 13402(e)(4): the Secretary must post a list of breaches of unsecured protected health information affecting 500 or more individuals. Breaches affecting fewer than 500 individuals are reported to OCR annually and are not posted, so they are not on this register. Status wording follows the portal's two tabs ("Cases Currently Under Investigation" and "Archive") as of 28 August 2026; a filing moves to the archive when OCR closes the case. Modelled costs on this site are a method applied to the reported count, using IBM Cost of a Data Breach per-record figures, and are never a cost disclosed by the entity. This row: hhs-breach-archive__2026-08-28.csv, export row 1797.
Corrections: if you represent a listed entity and the portal row has been amended, email [email protected] with the portal entry and we will re-pull the export.