GDPR: CNIL report on data breaches – April 2020

Introduction

In 2020-04, 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:
– Trade; repair of automobiles and motorcycles: 39 times
– Public administration: 26 times
– Specialized, scientific and technical activities: 23 times
– Manufacturing industry: 14 times
– Information and communication: 12 times
– Financial and insurance activities: 11 times
– Human health and social action: 10 times
– Administrative and support services activities: 7 times
– Real estate activities: 7 times
– Teaching: 6 times
– Other service activities: 6 times
– Production and distribution of electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning: 5 times
– Transportation and storage: 2 times
– Accommodation and catering: 1 time

Nature of violations

The types of violations encountered this month are:
– Loss of privacy: 151 times
– Loss of availability: 34 times
– Loss of integrity: 20 times

Number of people impacted

The number of people affected by these incidents is distributed as follows:
– Between 0 and 5 people: 59 times
– Between 301 and 5000 people: 35 times
– Between 51 and 300 people: 28 times
– More than 5000 people: 26 times
– Between 6 and 50 people: 21 times

Typologies of impacted data

The data typologies affected by the breaches are:
– Marital status (eg: name: 116 times
– gender: 116 times
– date of birth: 116 times
– age...): 116 times
– NIR (Directory Registration Number): 22 times
– Contact details (e.g. postal or email address: 119 times
– landline or mobile phone numbers...): 119 times
– Data relating to financial information (e.g. income: 46 times
– credit card number: 46 times
– bank details): 46 times
– economical: 46 times
– Identification or access data (e.g. identifier: 63 times
– password: 63 times
– customer number...): 63 times
– The breach concerns other data: 34 times
– Official documents (Passports: 16 times
– ID: 16 times
– etc.): 16 times
– Location data: 9 times
– The data concerned is not known at the moment: 19 times
– Data relating to offenses: 1 time
– convictions: 1 time
– security measures: 1 time

Origins of incidents

The main causes of these violations are:
– Mail lost or opened before being returned to sender: 1 time
– Hacking: 82 times
– malware (e.g. ransomware) and/or phishing: 82 times
– Personal data sent to the wrong recipient: 19 times
– Unvoluntary publication of information: 22 times
– Other: 39 times
– Equipment lost or stolen: 4 times
– Lost paper: 4 times
– stolen or left accessible in an unsecured location: 4 times
– Data of the wrong person displayed on the customer portal: 2 times
– Disposal of digital devices containing personal data without secure erasure: 1 time
– Personal information disclosed verbally: 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.