GDPR: CNIL report on data breaches – April 2021

Introduction

In 2021-04, 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:
– Specialized, scientific and technical activities: 61 times
– Public administration: 52 times
– Financial and insurance activities: 38 times
– Human health and social action: 32 times
– Trade; repair of automobiles and motorcycles: 25 times
– Information and communication: 22 times
– Manufacturing industry: 21 times
– Transportation and storage: 19 times
– Teaching: 17 times
– Other service activities: 15 times
– Administrative and support services activities: 13 times
– Real estate activities: 9 times
– Arts, entertainment and recreational activities: 8 times
– Construction: 8 times
– Agriculture, forestry and fishing: 3 times
– Accommodation and catering: 1 time
– Water production and distribution; sanitation, waste management and depollution: 1 time
– 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: 256 times
– Loss of integrity: 70 times
– Loss of availability: 148 times

Number of people impacted

The number of people affected by these incidents is distributed as follows:
– Between 301 and 5000 people: 93 times
– Between 0 and 5 people: 85 times
– Between 51 and 300 people: 70 times
– Between 6 and 50 people: 51 times
– More than 5000 people: 47 times

Typologies of impacted data

The data typologies affected by the breaches are:
– Marital status (eg: name: 272 times
– gender: 272 times
– date of birth: 272 times
– age...): 272 times
– Contact details (e.g. postal or email address: 268 times
– landline or mobile phone numbers...): 268 times
– Identification or access data (e.g. identifier: 145 times
– password: 145 times
– customer number...): 145 times
– Data relating to financial information (e.g. income: 143 times
– credit card number: 143 times
– bank details): 143 times
– economical: 143 times
– Data relating to offenses: 17 times
– convictions: 17 times
– security measures: 17 times
– The data concerned is not known at the moment: 43 times
– The breach concerns other data: 64 times
– NIR (Directory Registration Number): 52 times
– Official documents (Passports: 56 times
– ID: 56 times
– etc.): 56 times
– Location data: 48 times

Origins of incidents

The main causes of these violations are:
– Personal data sent to the wrong recipient: 48 times
– Hacking: 178 times
– malware (e.g. ransomware) and/or phishing: 178 times
– Equipment lost or stolen: 20 times
– Lost paper: 9 times
– stolen or left accessible in an unsecured location: 9 times
– Bad person data displayed on customer portal: 9 times
– Unvoluntary publication of information: 27 times
– Other: 80 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.