Breach filing
ArchivedDemocracy Data & Communications, LLC (: 83,000 individuals, Dec 2009.
Democracy Data & Communications, LLC ( reported a breach of unsecured protected health information to the HHS Office for Civil Rights on 8 December 2009. The filing records the organisation as a business associate in Virginia and lists 83,000 individuals affected, which makes it the 18th largest of the 157 Virginia filings on the register and the 1st largest of the 18 filings submitted nationally in 2009. It was the only Virginia filing in 2009.
Individuals affected
83,000
As reported to HHS
Modelled cost (IBM 2025)
$13.3M
Method shown, not disclosed
Rank in VA
18th
of 157 Virginia filings
Rank in 2009
1st
of 18 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
- 83,000
- Breach submission date
- 8 December 2009
- Submission year
- 2009
- Type of breach
- Other
- Location of breached information
- Paper/Films
- Business associate present
- Yes
- State
- Virginia (VA)
- Portal status
- listed in the HHS OCR breach portal archive
- Rank in Virginia by size
- 18th of 157
- Rank in 2009 nationally
- 1st of 18
- Virginia median filing
- 4,441 individuals
- Register id (derived)
- VA-20091208-democracy-data-and-communications
Section F.2 / In context
Where this filing sits in Virginia and in 2009
OCR classifies the incident as a breach of another type, with the breached information held in paper records or films. Other is the type recorded on 3 of the 157 Virginia filings (2%) and on 11% of all filings submitted in 2009. Paper/Films appears on 8% of Virginia filings.
A business associate is recorded as present on the filing, as it is on 39% of Virginia filings. At 83,000 individuals the breach is 19 times the Virginia median filing of 4,441 and 21 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.
Virginia's breach notification statute (Va. Code 18.2-186.6) requires notice to affected residents without unreasonable delay. Its attorney general threshold: all breaches (concurrent with individual notice). 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 83,000 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 $13.3M; the 2026 edition's $192 gives $15.9M. Both are modelled estimates with the method shown, not costs disclosed by Democracy Data & Communications, LLC (. For scale, IBM's 2026 average cost of a healthcare breach is $6.64M, so this filing models at 2.4 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.
In its breach report and during the course of OCR's investigation, the covered entity advised that it took various corrective actions to prevent a reoccurrence of the breach. Specifically, the covered entity conducted a risk assessment which revealed that the breach posed a significant risk of financial, reputational, or other harm to the 83,000 members. The covered entity sent notification letters to 83,000 members apologizing for the breach and offered a year of free credit monitoring and a $25,000 insurance policy against identity theft ($10,000 for New York residents). The covered entity also provided training to its call centers on November 29, 2009 to answer inquiries from callers concerned about the breach. In addition, media outlets were contacted to alert of a breach in states in which more than 500 members were impacted by the breach. The covered entity advised that media outlets were identified based on location of membership impacted, as well as ensuring it was a major media outlet and press releases were sent to 21 major media outlets on December 18, 2009. The covered entity also created and implemented a new policy titled 'Personal Health Information and Personal Identifiable Information Data Security and Handling Policy Acknowledgement Form' that centralized all data requests through a 'Team Track' which is an internal electronic submission request that ensures all PHI requested data receives the sign off of the Privacy Officer and Security Officer prior to release. Further, the covered entity also provided a mandatory annual computer-based training to all staff in May 2010.
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Section F.5 / Modelled cost
83,000 individuals through IBM's per-record figures
Modelled cost / method shown, not a disclosed cost
ModelledIBM 2025 customer PII, $160 per record
$13.3M
83,000 x $160
IBM 2026 customer PII, $192 per record
$15.9M
83,000 x $192
Method: individuals affected, as reported by Democracy Data & Communications, LLC ( 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
Virginia statute and the HIPAA rule
State notification statute
Virginia: Va. Code 18.2-186.6
- Notice to individuals
- Without unreasonable delay
- Attorney general threshold
- All breaches (concurrent with individual notice) (Concurrent with individual notification)
- Private right of action
- Limited: Individuals may recover direct economic damages (no non-economic damages)
- Penalty
- AG may impose civil penalties up to $150,000 per breach
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
Virginia filings closest in size
Neighbours by size rank among Virginia filings in 2009, topped up from other years where 2009 has too few. Filings of 10,000 or more link to their own page.
| Covered entity | Type | Individuals | Submitted | Breach type | Location | BA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tycon Medical Systems, Inc. | Healthcare Provider | 112,847 | 30 Dec 2024 | |||
| Defense Health Agency | Health Plan | 96,271 | 12 Mar 2026 | |||
| Guidehouse | Business Associate | 91,331 | 15 Jul 2021 | |||
| Cardiology Associates of Fredericksburg | Healthcare Provider | 75,476 | 17 Apr 2025 | |||
| Amerigroup Texas, Inc. | Business Associate | 75,026 | 10 Apr 2014 |
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 7165.
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.