GDPR: CNIL report on data breaches – December 2021

Introduction

In 2021-12, 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:
– Specialized, scientific and technical activities: 104 times
– Financial and insurance activities: 83 times
– Trade; repair of automobiles and motorcycles: 82 times
– Public administration: 68 times
– Information and communication: 64 times
– Manufacturing industry: 52 times
– Accommodation and catering: 43 times
– Administrative and support services activities: 33 times
– Human health and social action: 31 times
– Transportation and storage: 24 times
– Other service activities: 24 times
– Construction: 24 times
– Teaching: 22 times
– Real estate activities: 15 times
– Arts, entertainment and recreational activities: 7 times
– Agriculture, forestry and fishing: 7 times
– Water production and distribution; sanitation, waste management and depollution: 2 times
– Extra-territorial activities: 1 time
– Unknown: 1 time

Nature of violations

The types of violations encountered this month are:
– Loss of privacy: 631 times
– Loss of integrity: 60 times
– Loss of availability: 127 times

Number of people impacted

The number of people affected by these incidents is distributed as follows:
– Between 6 and 50 people: 228 times
– Between 51 and 300 people: 185 times
– Between 0 and 5 people: 130 times
– Between 301 and 5000 people: 110 times
– More than 5000 people: 34 times

Typologies of impacted data

The data typologies affected by the breaches are:
– Marital status (eg: name: 592 times
– gender: 592 times
– date of birth: 592 times
– age...): 592 times
– NIR (Directory Registration Number): 410 times
– Contact details (e.g. postal or email address: 590 times
– landline or mobile phone numbers...): 590 times
– Data relating to financial information (e.g. income: 444 times
– credit card number: 444 times
– bank details): 444 times
– economical: 444 times
– Official documents (Passports: 58 times
– ID: 58 times
– etc.): 58 times
– Identification or access data (e.g. identifier: 121 times
– password: 121 times
– customer number...): 121 times
– The data concerned is not known at the moment: 44 times
– The breach concerns other data: 71 times
– Location data: 22 times
– Data relating to offenses: 9 times
– convictions: 9 times
– security measures: 9 times

Origins of incidents

The main causes of these violations are:
– Hacking: 522 times
– malware (e.g. ransomware) and/or phishing: 522 times
– Personal data sent to the wrong recipient: 55 times
– Other: 60 times
– Lost paper: 12 times
– stolen or left accessible in an unsecured location: 12 times
– Disposal of paper documents containing personal data without physical destruction: 1 time
– Unvoluntary publication of information: 29 times
– Equipment lost or stolen: 24 times
– Data of the wrong person displayed on the customer portal: 4 times
– Personal information disclosed verbally: 1 time
– 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.