GDPR: CNIL report on data breaches – August 2020

Introduction

In 2020-08, 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: 32 times
– Specialized, scientific and technical activities: 21 times
– Financial and insurance activities: 18 times
– Human health and social action: 14 times
– Information and communication: 14 times
– Trade; repair of automobiles and motorcycles: 14 times
– Transportation and storage: 10 times
– Manufacturing industry: 8 times
– Other service activities: 6 times
– Construction: 3 times
– Teaching: 3 times
– Administrative and support services activities: 3 times
– Accommodation and catering: 2 times
– Real estate activities: 1 time
– Arts, entertainment and recreational activities: 1 time

Nature of violations

The types of violations encountered this month are:
– Loss of privacy: 135 times
– Loss of integrity: 16 times
– Loss of availability: 36 times

Number of people impacted

The number of people affected by these incidents is distributed as follows:
– Between 301 and 5000 people: 41 times
– Between 51 and 300 people: 35 times
– Between 0 and 5 people: 32 times
– Between 6 and 50 people: 25 times
– More than 5000 people: 17 times

Typologies of impacted data

The data typologies affected by the breaches are:
– Data relating to financial information (e.g. income: 67 times
– credit card number: 67 times
– bank details): 67 times
– economical: 67 times
– Marital status (eg: name: 116 times
– gender: 116 times
– date of birth: 116 times
– age...): 116 times
– NIR (Directory Registration Number): 25 times
– Contact details (e.g. postal or email address: 121 times
– landline or mobile phone numbers...): 121 times
– Identification or access data (e.g. identifier: 54 times
– password: 54 times
– customer number...): 54 times
– The breach concerns other data: 34 times
– The data concerned is not known at the moment: 12 times
– Official documents (Passports: 34 times
– ID: 34 times
– etc.): 34 times
– Location data: 12 times
– Data relating to offenses: 7 times
– convictions: 7 times
– security measures: 7 times

Origins of incidents

The main causes of these violations are:
– Personal data sent to the wrong recipient: 17 times
– Hacking: 68 times
– malware (e.g. ransomware) and/or phishing: 68 times
– Other: 36 times
– Personal information disclosed verbally: 1 time
– Equipment lost or stolen: 15 times
– Lost paper: 2 times
– stolen or left accessible in an unsecured location: 2 times
– Unvoluntary publication of information: 13 times
– Data of the wrong person displayed on the customer portal: 3 times
– Mail lost or opened before being returned to sender: 3 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.