Breach filing
ArchivedOklahoma Department of Human Services: 47,000 individuals, Dec 2017.
Oklahoma Department of Human Services reported a breach of unsecured protected health information to the HHS Office for Civil Rights on 5 December 2017. The filing records the organisation as a health plan in Oklahoma and lists 47,000 individuals affected, which makes it the 13th largest of the 80 Oklahoma filings on the register and the 22nd largest of the 358 filings submitted nationally in 2017. Among the 5 Oklahoma filings made in 2017 it ranks 1st.
Individuals affected
47,000
As reported to HHS
Modelled cost (IBM 2025)
$7.52M
Method shown, not disclosed
Rank in OK
13th
of 80 Oklahoma filings
Rank in 2017
22nd
of 358 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
- 47,000
- Breach submission date
- 5 December 2017
- Submission year
- 2017
- Type of breach
- Hacking/IT Incident
- Location of breached information
- Network Server
- Business associate present
- Yes
- State
- Oklahoma (OK)
- Portal status
- listed in the HHS OCR breach portal archive
- Rank in Oklahoma by size
- 13th of 80
- Rank in 2017 nationally
- 22nd of 358
- Oklahoma median filing
- 3,849 individuals
- Register id (derived)
- OK-20171205-oklahoma-department-of-human-services
Section F.2 / In context
Where this filing sits in Oklahoma and in 2017
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 58 of the 80 Oklahoma filings (73%) and on 42% of all filings submitted in 2017. Network Server is the most common location in the state, appearing on 51% of Oklahoma filings.
A business associate is recorded as present on the filing, as it is on 33% of Oklahoma filings. At 47,000 individuals the breach is 12 times the Oklahoma median filing of 3,849 and 12 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.
Oklahoma's breach notification statute (Okla. Stat. tit. 24, 161 et seq.) requires notice to affected residents without unreasonable delay. Its attorney general threshold: 500 or more Oklahoma residents. 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 47,000 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 $7.52M; the 2026 edition's $192 gives $9.02M. Both are modelled estimates with the method shown, not costs disclosed by Oklahoma Department of Human Services. For scale, IBM's 2026 average cost of a healthcare breach is $6.64M, so this filing models at 1.4 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.
An unauthorized source accessed a state assessment computer server, located at and maintained by an outside vendor. The server contained state assessment information that included names and social security numbers of 47,000 current and former clients of the covered entity (CE), Oklahoma Department of Human Services. As a result of OCR's technical assistance, the CE provided breach notification to HHS, affected individuals, and the media and posted substitute notification on its website. Due to OCR's investigation, the CE entered into a business associate agreement with the outside vendor. OCR obtained assurances that the CE implemented the corrective actions noted above. The CE also began researching the possibility of creating a HIPAA "hybrid entity."
Section F.5 / Modelled cost
47,000 individuals through IBM's per-record figures
Modelled cost / method shown, not a disclosed cost
ModelledIBM 2025 customer PII, $160 per record
$7.52M
47,000 x $160
IBM 2026 customer PII, $192 per record
$9.02M
47,000 x $192
Method: individuals affected, as reported by Oklahoma Department of Human 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
Oklahoma statute and the HIPAA rule
State notification statute
Oklahoma: Okla. Stat. tit. 24, 161 et seq.
amended by SB 626 (effective 1 January 2026)
- Notice to individuals
- Without unreasonable delay
- Attorney general threshold
- 500 or more Oklahoma residents (No later than 60 days after providing notice to residents)
- Private right of action
- No: No PROA; enforcement is exclusive to the Oklahoma Attorney General
- Penalty
- Up to $150,000 per breach; reduced or waived where reasonable safeguards are demonstrated
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
Oklahoma filings closest in size
Neighbours by size rank among Oklahoma filings in 2017, topped up from other years where 2017 has too few. Filings of 10,000 or more link to their own page.
| Covered entity | Type | Individuals | Submitted | Breach type | Location | BA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Duncan Regional Hospital, Incorporated | Healthcare Provider | 86,379 | 4 Mar 2022 | |||
| Patient Care Services at Saint Francis, Inc. | Healthcare Provider | 84,000 | 6 Apr 2011 | |||
| Oklahoma Spine Hospital | Healthcare Provider | 38,945 | 5 Nov 2024 | |||
| Mercy Health Love County Hospital and Clinic | Healthcare Provider | 13,004 | 20 Sep 2017 | |||
| LKM ENTERPRISES, INC. | Healthcare Provider | 3,400 | 1 Jun 2017 |
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 5029.
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.