Breach filing
ArchivedThe Richards Group: 15,429 individuals, Jan 2021.
The Richards Group reported a breach of unsecured protected health information to the HHS Office for Civil Rights on 28 January 2021. The filing records the organisation as a business associate in Vermont and lists 15,429 individuals affected, which makes it the 4th largest of the 15 Vermont filings on the register and the 251st largest of the 715 filings submitted nationally in 2021. Among the 3 Vermont filings made in 2021 it ranks 1st.
Individuals affected
15,429
As reported to HHS
Modelled cost (IBM 2025)
$2.47M
Method shown, not disclosed
Rank in VT
4th
of 15 Vermont filings
Rank in 2021
251st
of 715 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
- 15,429
- Breach submission date
- 28 January 2021
- Submission year
- 2021
- Type of breach
- Hacking/IT Incident
- Location of breached information
- Business associate present
- Yes
- State
- Vermont (VT)
- Portal status
- listed in the HHS OCR breach portal archive
- Rank in Vermont by size
- 4th of 15
- Rank in 2021 nationally
- 251st of 715
- Vermont median filing
- 2,000 individuals
- Register id (derived)
- VT-20210128-richards-group
Section F.2 / In context
Where this filing sits in Vermont and in 2021
OCR classifies the incident as a hacking or IT incident, with the breached information held in email. Hacking/IT Incident is the type recorded on 9 of the 15 Vermont filings (60%) and on 76% of all filings submitted in 2021. Email appears on 47% of Vermont filings.
A business associate is recorded as present on the filing, as it is on 33% of Vermont filings. At 15,429 individuals the breach is 7.7 times the Vermont median filing of 2,000 and 3.9 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.
Vermont's breach notification statute (9 V.S.A. 2430, 2435) requires notice to affected residents as soon as possible, no later than 45 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 15,429 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 $2.47M; the 2026 edition's $192 gives $2.96M. Both are modelled estimates with the method shown, not costs disclosed by The Richards Group. 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.
The covered entity (CE), The Richards Group, reported that an employee was the victim of an email phishing attack that compromised the protected health information (PHI) of 15,429 individuals. The PHI involved included names, addresses, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, diagnoses, and health insurance and treatment information. The CE notified HHS, affected individuals, the media, and posted substitute notice on its website. In its mitigation efforts, the CE provided complimentary credit monitoring services and implemented additional administrative and technical safeguards to better protect its PHI. Staff were retrained on email security.
Section F.5 / Modelled cost
15,429 individuals through IBM's per-record figures
Modelled cost / method shown, not a disclosed cost
ModelledIBM 2025 customer PII, $160 per record
$2.47M
15,429 x $160
IBM 2026 customer PII, $192 per record
$2.96M
15,429 x $192
Method: individuals affected, as reported by The Richards Group 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
Vermont statute and the HIPAA rule
State notification statute
Vermont: 9 V.S.A. 2430, 2435
- Notice to individuals
- As soon as possible, no later than 45 days after discovery
- Attorney general threshold
- All breaches (no minimum resident threshold) (Preliminary notice within 14 business days of discovery)
- Private right of action
- No: No PROA; the AG and state's attorneys enforce
- Penalty
- Up to $10,000 per violation, with each day per consumer counted as a separate violation
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
Vermont filings closest in size
Neighbours by size rank among Vermont filings in 2021, topped up from other years where 2021 has too few. Filings of 10,000 or more link to their own page.
| Covered entity | Type | Individuals | Submitted | Breach type | Location | BA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lamoille Health Partners | Healthcare Provider | 59,381 | 11 Aug 2022 | |||
| Central Vermont Eye Care | Healthcare Provider | 29,892 | 6 Apr 2022 | |||
| Gifford Health Care | Healthcare Provider | 6,777 | 23 Apr 2021 | |||
| Springfield HospitalOpen | Healthcare Provider | 5,892 | 10 Apr 2026 | |||
| North Country Hospital | Healthcare Provider | 1,905 | 16 Apr 2021 |
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 3424.
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.