GDPR: CNIL report on data breaches – August 2019

Introduction

In 2019-08, several personal data breaches were reported to the CNIL, affecting various sectors of activity. These incidents highlighted the vulnerability of personal data and the importance of adequate protection.

Sectors concerned

The sectors most affected by data breaches are:
– Public administration: 23 times
– Financial and insurance activities: 19 times
– Specialized, scientific and technical activities: 17 times
– Trade; repair of automobiles and motorcycles: 15 times
– Information and communication: 14 times
– Teaching: 7 times
– Manufacturing industry: 7 times
– Other service activities: 6 times
– Human health and social action: 6 times
– Transportation and storage: 5 times
– Real estate activities: 4 times
– Administrative and support services activities: 3 times
– Arts, entertainment and recreational activities: 2 times
– Water production and distribution; sanitation, waste management and depollution: 1 time

Nature of violations

The types of violations encountered this month are:
– Loss of privacy: 117 times
– Loss of integrity: 16 times
– Loss of availability: 20 times

Number of people impacted

The number of people affected by these incidents is distributed as follows:
– Between 0 and 5 people: 42 times
– Between 51 and 300 people: 25 times
– Between 301 and 5000 people: 24 times
– More than 5000 people: 19 times
– Between 6 and 50 people: 19 times

Typologies of impacted data

The data typologies affected by the breaches are:
– Data relating to financial information (e.g. income: 34 times
– credit card number: 34 times
– bank details): 34 times
– economical: 34 times
– Marital status (eg: name: 101 times
– gender: 101 times
– date of birth: 101 times
– age...): 101 times
– Contact details (e.g. postal or email address: 93 times
– landline or mobile phone numbers...): 93 times
– NIR (Directory Registration Number): 24 times
– Identification or access data (e.g. identifier: 36 times
– password: 36 times
– customer number...): 36 times
– Official documents (Passports: 17 times
– ID: 17 times
– etc.): 17 times
– Location data: 12 times
– The breach concerns other data: 19 times
– The data concerned is not known at the moment: 12 times
– Data relating to offenses: 4 times
– convictions: 4 times
– security measures: 4 times

Origins of incidents

The main causes of these violations are:
– Personal data sent to the wrong recipient: 33 times
– Other: 27 times
– Equipment lost or stolen: 21 times
– Hacking: 34 times
– malware (e.g. ransomware) and/or phishing: 34 times
– Unvoluntary publication of information: 20 times
– Data of the wrong person displayed on the customer portal: 5 times
– Lost paper: 5 times
– stolen or left accessible in an unsecured location: 5 times
– Disposal of paper documents containing personal data without physical destruction: 1 time
– Disposal of digital devices containing personal data without secure erasure: 1 time
– Mail lost or opened before being returned to sender: 1 time
– Personal information disclosed verbally: 2 times

Conclusion

Data Comply One (formerly Mission RGPD) offers a complete solution for complying with the GDPR thanks to its GDPR Software, its DPO Coaches, and its outsourced DPO services. These tools help prevent data breaches by ensuring the security and compliance of processing practices. We invite you to use our free Diag GDPR tool to assess your company's compliance.

Consult the CNIL interactive map to find out more.
For more information on notifications to the CNIL and the follow-up taken.
Data on notifications to the CNIL.