GDPR: CNIL report on data breaches – December 2020

Introduction

In 2020-12, 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: 48 times
– Financial and insurance activities: 37 times
– Specialized, scientific and technical activities: 30 times
– Information and communication: 27 times
– Trade; repair of automobiles and motorcycles: 26 times
– Human health and social action: 19 times
– Manufacturing industry: 17 times
– Transportation and storage: 15 times
– Other service activities: 8 times
– Teaching: 7 times
– Real estate activities: 6 times
– Administrative and support services activities: 4 times
– Construction: 3 times
– Production and distribution of electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning: 2 times
– Accommodation and catering: 2 times
– Agriculture, forestry and fishing: 1 time
– Arts, entertainment and recreational activities: 1 time

Nature of violations

The types of violations encountered this month are:
– Loss of privacy: 238 times
– Loss of integrity: 46 times
– Loss of availability: 60 times

Number of people impacted

The number of people affected by these incidents is distributed as follows:
– Between 301 and 5000 people: 71 times
– Between 0 and 5 people: 62 times
– Between 51 and 300 people: 43 times
– More than 5000 people: 40 times
– Between 6 and 50 people: 37 times

Typologies of impacted data

The data typologies affected by the breaches are:
– Marital status (eg: name: 178 times
– gender: 178 times
– date of birth: 178 times
– age...): 178 times
– Contact details (e.g. postal or email address: 184 times
– landline or mobile phone numbers...): 184 times
– Data relating to financial information (e.g. income: 81 times
– credit card number: 81 times
– bank details): 81 times
– economical: 81 times
– Identification or access data (e.g. identifier: 88 times
– password: 88 times
– customer number...): 88 times
– NIR (Directory Registration Number): 53 times
– Official documents (Passports: 33 times
– ID: 33 times
– etc.): 33 times
– The breach concerns other data: 60 times
– Location data: 18 times
– The data concerned is not known at the moment: 30 times
– Data relating to offenses: 9 times
– convictions: 9 times
– security measures: 9 times

Origins of incidents

The main causes of these violations are:
– Other: 55 times
– Hacking: 117 times
– malware (e.g. ransomware) and/or phishing: 117 times
– Equipment lost or stolen: 18 times
– Unvoluntary publication of information: 25 times
– Personal data sent to the wrong recipient: 33 times
– Data of the wrong person displayed on the customer portal: 8 times
– Lost paper: 7 times
– stolen or left accessible in an unsecured location: 7 times
– Personal information disclosed verbally: 3 times
– Mail lost or opened before being returned to sender: 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.