Kostelic and Associates 3PLLC, a North Carolina healthcare provider, has reported a breach to the federal health privacy portal affecting 535 people.
If you received a notice, here is what has been made public so far and what you can do about it.
Kostelic and Associates 3PLLC’s Data Breach Investigation
Kostelic and Associates 3PLLC is listed on the federal Office for Civil Rights breach portal as a healthcare provider based in North Carolina. According to that listing, the practice reported a breach affecting 535 individuals, and the submission is dated September 25, 2026. The portal classifies the incident as a hacking or IT incident, and it identifies the location of the breached information as email.
The public record for this incident is thin. The federal portal is a compliance listing, not a narrative account. It does not explain how the the email system was reached, who was responsible, when the activity began, or when it was discovered. It also does not list the specific types of personal or health information involved. This page does not guess at any of those details, and it will be more useful if the practice or a regulator publishes a fuller account.
Entries on this portal exist because federal health privacy law requires covered entities to report larger breaches of unsecured protected health information to the government. A healthcare provider is a covered entity, which means it is expected to protect patient records and to notify people when those records are involved in a reportable event. Patients usually have no say in how a practice stores their information. They hand over names, contact details, insurance information and medical history in order to receive care, and they trust the practice to keep it safe.
That is one reason a notice can feel sudden. A person may receive a letter weeks or months after the underlying event, and the letter may be the first indication that anything went wrong. If you got a letter naming Kostelic and Associates 3PLLC, the notice is the best source of facts about what applies to you. Keep it, along with the envelope, for your records.
The count reported, 535, is the number given on the federal portal for this single filing. A filing like this is often the first public signal of an incident. More detailed notification letters to affected individuals can follow later, and they sometimes contain dates, data categories and details about protective services that the portal does not show. Anyone who is notified should read the letter closely and take note of any enrollment instructions for free monitoring services.
Why does it matter that the email system is involved? Information held in an email system commonly includes messages, attachments, stored files and records, so access by someone who is not authorized can expose a lot of information at once. In the healthcare setting, those records can include names, contact details, insurance information, billing data and treatment details. When such records are combined with a Social Security number or date of birth, they can be used for identity theft, and medical details can be used for medical identity theft, where someone uses another person’s coverage to obtain care or file false claims. Whether any of those categories apply in this incident is not stated in the listing.
Health data is also hard to replace once exposed. A password can be changed and a payment card can be reissued, but a diagnosis, a date of birth or a medical history cannot be reset. For that reason, the risk to people whose records were involved can last long after the first notice, and it is reasonable to stay alert for unfamiliar charges, unexpected explanation-of-benefits statements, and calls or messages that refer to a medical account or appointment.
A report to the federal government is also a sign that the practice concluded the event met the legal definition of a reportable breach. It is not, by itself, a finding about fault or about whether the safeguards in place were adequate. Those are questions that remain open on the public record, and they are the kind of questions that attorneys can ask on behalf of people who were harmed. Until more is published, the listing above is the reliable core of what is known.
When Did This Breach Occur?
The breach listing on the federal portal carries a submission date of September 25, 2026. That date is when the report was filed, not necessarily when the incident took place.
The listing does not state when the incident began, when it ended, or when it was discovered. If you received a notice, it may contain the dates that apply to you.
What Information Was Breached?
The federal portal does not list the specific categories of information involved. It says only that the incident was a hacking or IT incident and that the breached information was held in email.
Because Kostelic and Associates 3PLLC is a healthcare provider, the records may relate to patients of the practice. The notice you receive, if any, is the best guide to what was exposed in your case.
What You Can Do
If you received a notice related to Kostelic and Associates 3PLLC or believe you may be affected, consider these steps:
- Read the notice carefully and keep it, along with any enrollment details for protection services it offers.
- Place a free fraud alert or a credit freeze with Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, and get your reports free at annualcreditreport.com.
- Review explanation-of-benefits statements, medical bills and insurance statements for anything you do not recognize.
- Be skeptical of unexpected calls, texts or emails that mention the incident, and report suspected identity theft to the Federal Trade Commission at identitytheft.gov.
File a Data Breach Lawsuit Against Kostelic and Associates 3PLLC
If your personal or health information was exposed in this incident, you may have legal options. Healthcare providers are expected to safeguard patient information, and a class action can help hold an organization accountable when it falls short.
Contact us at Class Action U, where we’ll connect you with a lawyer skilled in class action lawsuits. If you’ve been contacted about this breach, received notice, or discovered you were impacted, fill out our quick, easy, and secure form to sign up. There is no cost to reach out to our legal partner and no obligation after speaking with someone from our team.
