State notification register
Delaware data breach notification law: without unreasonable delay.
Delaware's breach-notification obligations are set by Del. Code tit. 6, Ch. 12B. This page summarises the deadline to notify affected residents, the attorney general notification threshold, whether a private right of action exists, and the penalties for late or missing notification. Every provision is cited to its source statute and was verified in June 2026.
Individual deadline
60 days
From discovery / determination
AG notification
500
500 or more Delaware residents
Private action
No
Statute preserves existing common-law and other statutory rights
Statute
DE
Del. Code tit. 6, Ch. 12B
Section DE.1
What the statute requires
Under Del. Code tit. 6, Ch. 12B, a business that owns or licenses computerized personal information of Delaware residents must notify affected individuals without unreasonable delay, no later than 60 days after determining a breach occurred.
Attorney general or state-agency notification is 500 or more delaware residents. Where required, the timeline is: no later than when individual notices are sent.
Section DE.2
What triggers notification
Like most US state statutes, notification is triggered by the unauthorized acquisition of unencrypted, unredacted computerized personal information that compromises its security, confidentiality, or integrity. Two concepts recur across the states and apply here.
Encryption safe harbor
Personal information that was encrypted, and where the encryption key was not also acquired, generally does not trigger notification. A stolen device with full-disk encryption is typically a non-event; an unencrypted record, or an encrypted record where the key was exposed alongside it, is a reportable breach.
Who must be notified
- [1] Affected Delaware residents: 60 days
- [2] Attorney general / state agency: 500 or more delaware residents
- [3] Consumer reporting agencies where the breach is large-scale
Section DE.3
Penalties and enforcement
Enforced by the AG Consumer Protection Division; may recover direct economic damages.
Private right of action: No. Statute preserves existing common-law and other statutory rights.
Primary source:Delaware statute Del. Code tit. 6, Ch. 12B; verified June 2026 against state statutory summaries and the underlying statute text.
Section DE.4
How this compares to the strictest states
The strictest US deadlines are 30 days (California, Florida, Washington, Colorado, Maine, New York, New Jersey). The majority of states use a qualitative "without unreasonable delay" standard with no fixed day cap. Here is where Delaware sits.
Delaware imposes a fixed 60-day deadline. The strictest states cut this to 30 days, so Delaware sits 30 days behind the tightest regimes.
Cross-references
Index / All 50 states + DC
→The full register: deadline and AG threshold for every state.
Schedule 09 / Notification laws
→Global frameworks and the cost of notification.
01 / Breach cost calculator
→Estimate your Delaware breach exposure, including notification cost.
Regulation / GDPR
→The 72-hour clock and 4%-of-revenue fine framework.
Cost / Notification
→Why notification is roughly 6% of total breach cost.
Schedule F / Reference Q&A
Frequently Asked Questions
Primary source:Delaware data breach notification statute (Del. Code tit. 6, Ch. 12B). Provisions verified June 2026 against state statutory summaries (Recording Law US data-privacy series, 2026 edition), the IAPP US State Data Breach Notification Chart, Foley & Lardner's chart, and the underlying statute text.