North Texas Behavioral Health Authority Data Breach Affects 285K Individuals
North Texas Behavioral Health Authority (NTBHA), a provider of mental health and substance use treatment and services in Dallas, Ellis, Hunt, Kaufman, Navarro & Rockwall counties, has notified the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights about a breach of the protected health information of 285,086 individuals. The data breach is the 6th largest data breach reported to OCR so far in 2026.
NTBHA identified unauthorized activity within its computer systems on or around October 15, 2025, and launched an investigation to determine the nature and scope of the activity. The investigation confirmed that an unauthorized third party accessed its network between October 13, 2025, and October 15, 2025, during which time files containing patient information may have been viewed or acquired.
It took around three months to review the affected files, and on January 7, 2026, NTBHA confirmed that some of the files contained personal information. The substitute data breach notice does not list the types of data involved, although for some individuals, Social Security numbers were exposed. NTBHA said that at the time of issuing breach notification letters, no evidence had been found of any actual or attempted misuse of the impacted information.
Notification letters started to be sent to the affected individuals on March 6, 2026, and complimentary credit monitoring and identity theft protection services have been offered to individuals whose Social Security numbers were involved. NTBHA said it continually evaluates its privacy and security measures and has taken steps to augment security following this incident. They include resetting passwords, expanding multi-factor authentication, and deploying advanced endpoint detection and response tools and services. At present, no threat actor appears to have claimed responsibility for the incident. Several law firms have opened investigations in response to the data breach and are considering filing class action lawsuits.
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