Breach filing
ArchivedEthos, also known as Southwest Boston Senior Services: 14,503 individuals, Mar 2024.
Ethos, also known as Southwest Boston Senior Services reported a breach of unsecured protected health information to the HHS Office for Civil Rights on 22 March 2024. The filing records the organisation as a business associate in Massachusetts and lists 14,503 individuals affected, which makes it the 65th largest of the 241 Massachusetts filings on the register and the 301st largest of the 741 filings submitted nationally in 2024. Among the 31 Massachusetts filings made in 2024 it ranks 11th.
Individuals affected
14,503
As reported to HHS
Modelled cost (IBM 2025)
$2.32M
Method shown, not disclosed
Rank in MA
65th
of 241 Massachusetts filings
Rank in 2024
301st
of 741 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
- Business Associate
- Individuals affected
- 14,503
- Breach submission date
- 22 March 2024
- Submission year
- 2024
- Type of breach
- Hacking/IT Incident
- Location of breached information
- Network Server
- Business associate present
- Yes
- State
- Massachusetts (MA)
- Portal status
- listed in the HHS OCR breach portal archive
- Rank in Massachusetts by size
- 65th of 241
- Rank in 2024 nationally
- 301st of 741
- Massachusetts median filing
- 3,900 individuals
- Register id (derived)
- MA-20240322-ethos-also-known-as-southwest-boston-sen
Section F.2 / In context
Where this filing sits in Massachusetts and in 2024
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 151 of the 241 Massachusetts filings (63%) and on 83% of all filings submitted in 2024. Network Server is the most common location in the state, appearing on 51% of Massachusetts filings.
A business associate is recorded as present on the filing, as it is on 37% of Massachusetts filings. At 14,503 individuals the breach is 3.7 times the Massachusetts median filing of 3,900 and 3.6 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.
Massachusetts's breach notification statute (Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 93H) requires notice to affected residents as soon as practicable and without unreasonable delay. Its attorney general threshold: all breaches (AG and Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation). 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 14,503 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 $2.32M; the 2026 edition's $192 gives $2.78M. Both are modelled estimates with the method shown, not costs disclosed by Ethos, also known as Southwest Boston Senior Services. For scale, IBM's 2026 average cost of a healthcare breach is $6.64M, so this filing models at 0.4 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.
Ethos dba Southwest Boston Senior Services experienced a hacking/IT incident that affected the protected health information (PHI) of 14,503 individuals. The PHI involved included names, addresses, Social Security numbers, diagnoses, and health insurance information. The BA notified HHS, affected individuals, and the media. In response to the breach the BA implemented additional administrative, technical, and security safeguards. Staff was also retrained in its requirements to protect and secure PHI.
Section F.5 / Modelled cost
14,503 individuals through IBM's per-record figures
Modelled cost / method shown, not a disclosed cost
ModelledIBM 2025 customer PII, $160 per record
$2.32M
14,503 x $160
IBM 2026 customer PII, $192 per record
$2.78M
14,503 x $192
Method: individuals affected, as reported by Ethos, also known as Southwest Boston Senior Services 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
Massachusetts statute and the HIPAA rule
State notification statute
Massachusetts: Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 93H
paired with 201 CMR 17.00 data-security regulations
- Notice to individuals
- As soon as practicable and without unreasonable delay
- Attorney general threshold
- All breaches (AG and Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation) (As soon as practicable and without unreasonable delay)
- Private right of action
- Yes: Chapter 93A claims, subject to a 30-day pre-suit demand letter requirement
- Penalty
- Up to $5,000 per violation; treble damages for willful violations, plus attorney fees
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
Massachusetts filings closest in size
Neighbours by size rank among Massachusetts filings in 2024, topped up from other years where 2024 has too few. Filings of 10,000 or more link to their own page.
| Covered entity | Type | Individuals | Submitted | Breach type | Location | BA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gandara Mental Health CenterOpen | Healthcare Provider | 20,024 | 24 Oct 2024 | |||
| Aspire Health Alliance | Healthcare Provider | 17,490 | 26 Apr 2024 | |||
| The North Cottage Program | Healthcare Provider | 8,190 | 15 Jul 2024 | |||
| Massachusetts Department of Developmental Services | Healthcare Provider | 3,800 | 8 Nov 2024 |
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 1092.
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.