GDPR: CNIL report on data breaches – August 2021

Introduction

In 2021-08, 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: 34 times
– Specialized, scientific and technical activities: 31 times
– Human health and social action: 23 times
– Trade; repair of automobiles and motorcycles: 19 times
– Financial and insurance activities: 18 times
– Information and communication: 17 times
– Manufacturing industry: 9 times
– Administrative and support services activities: 6 times
– Real estate activities: 6 times
– Transportation and storage: 5 times
– Teaching: 3 times
– Other service activities: 3 times
– Arts, entertainment and recreational activities: 3 times
– Accommodation and catering: 3 times
– Construction: 2 times
– Production and distribution of electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning: 1 time

Nature of violations

The types of violations encountered this month are:
– Loss of privacy: 156 times
– Loss of integrity: 37 times
– Loss of availability: 56 times

Number of people impacted

The number of people affected by these incidents is distributed as follows:
– Between 0 and 5 people: 49 times
– Between 301 and 5000 people: 39 times
– Between 51 and 300 people: 38 times
– Between 6 and 50 people: 31 times
– More than 5000 people: 26 times

Typologies of impacted data

The data typologies affected by the breaches are:
– Marital status (eg: name: 135 times
– gender: 135 times
– date of birth: 135 times
– age...): 135 times
– NIR (Directory Registration Number): 43 times
– Contact details (e.g. postal or email address: 141 times
– landline or mobile phone numbers...): 141 times
– Identification or access data (e.g. identifier: 73 times
– password: 73 times
– customer number...): 73 times
– Data relating to financial information (e.g. income: 71 times
– credit card number: 71 times
– bank details): 71 times
– economical: 71 times
– Official documents (Passports: 44 times
– ID: 44 times
– etc.): 44 times
– The data concerned is not known at the moment: 23 times
– The breach concerns other data: 47 times
– Location data: 13 times
– Data relating to offenses: 8 times
– convictions: 8 times
– security measures: 8 times

Origins of incidents

The main causes of these violations are:
– Hacking: 90 times
– malware (e.g. ransomware) and/or phishing: 90 times
– Personal data sent to the wrong recipient: 24 times
– Other: 38 times
– Lost paper: 4 times
– stolen or left accessible in an unsecured location: 4 times
– Equipment lost or stolen: 20 times
– Personal information disclosed verbally: 1 time
– Data of the wrong person displayed on the customer portal: 4 times
– Unvoluntary publication of information: 13 times
– Mail lost or opened before being returned to sender: 1 time

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.