Guides to breach laws and HIPAA

HIPAA Breach Notification Rule Explained

The HIPAA Breach Notification Rule (45 CFR 164.400 to 164.414): who must notify, deadlines, risk assessment and how to report a HIPAA breach to HHS.

What Is a HIPAA Breach? Definition and Examples

The HIPAA breach definition, the exceptions, breach vs violation, and real examples from HHS OCR breach reports by type.

HIPAA Breach Penalties and Fines

How HHS OCR enforces HIPAA: investigations, resolution agreements and the civil money penalty tiers, with links to official HHS enforcement pages.

HIPAA vs State Breach Notification Laws

How HIPAA preemption works, when stricter state laws still apply, and how state breach notification statutes interact with the HIPAA rule.

What Is a Data Breach Notification Law?

Data breach notification laws explained: state statutes, sector rules such as HIPAA, who enforces them and why you got a breach notice.

State Privacy Laws vs Breach Notification Laws

The difference between comprehensive state data privacy laws and data breach notification laws, with links to official trackers.

Social Security Numbers and ID Numbers in Breach Laws

Why Social Security numbers and driver licence numbers appear in state breach law definitions, and which state excerpts mention them.

Biometric Data in State Breach Laws

Which state data breach notification laws cover biometric data such as fingerprints, from the PRC 2026 survey: 22 yes, 29 no.

What to Do After a Data Breach Notice

Practical steps after a data breach notice, with official FTC IdentityTheft.gov links, plus what organisations should do after a breach.

How to Check if Your Data Was in a Breach

How to find out if your data was breached: breach notice letters, the HHS OCR breach portal, our HIPAA tracker and external checkers.

What Is a Data Breach? Definition, Types and Causes

What a data breach is, the main types and the most common causes, illustrated with counts from HHS OCR healthcare breach reports.

How to Read the HHS OCR Breach Portal

A column-by-column guide to the HHS OCR HIPAA breach portal: entity type, individuals affected, breach type, location and status.