GDPR: CNIL report on data breaches – December 2023

Introduction

In 2023-12, 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: 142 times
– Public administration: 53 times
– Trade; repair of automobiles and motorcycles: 50 times
– Financial and insurance activities: 42 times
– Human health and social action: 36 times
– Information and communication: 26 times
– Manufacturing industry: 21 times
– Other service activities: 20 times
– Administrative and support services activities: 14 times
– Accommodation and catering: 13 times
– Teaching: 13 times
– Transportation and storage: 11 times
– Real estate activities: 9 times
– Construction: 8 times
– Arts, entertainment and recreational activities: 2 times
– Agriculture, forestry and fishing: 2 times
– Water production and distribution; sanitation, waste management and depollution: 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: 394 times
– Loss of availability: 183 times
– Loss of integrity: 100 times

Number of people impacted

The number of people affected by these incidents is distributed as follows:
– Between 301 and 5000 people: 119 times
– Between 51 and 300 people: 117 times
– Between 0 and 5 people: 109 times
– Between 6 and 50 people: 83 times
– More than 5000 people: 37 times

Typologies of impacted data

The data typologies affected by the breaches are:
– The data concerned is not known at the moment: 106 times
– Marital status (eg: name: 330 times
– gender: 330 times
– date of birth: 330 times
– age...): 330 times
– NIR (Directory Registration Number): 115 times
– Contact details (e.g. postal or email address: 310 times
– landline or mobile phone numbers...): 310 times
– Identification or access data (e.g. identifier: 164 times
– password: 164 times
– customer number...): 164 times
– Data relating to financial information (e.g. income: 194 times
– credit card number: 194 times
– bank details): 194 times
– economical: 194 times
– Official documents (Passports: 106 times
– ID: 106 times
– etc.): 106 times
– Location data: 62 times
– The breach concerns other data: 109 times
– Data relating to offenses: 26 times
– convictions: 26 times
– security measures: 26 times

Origins of incidents

The main causes of these violations are:
– Hacking: 276 times
– malware (e.g. ransomware) and/or phishing: 276 times
– Data of the wrong person displayed on the customer portal: 5 times
– Personal data sent to the wrong recipient: 47 times
– Other: 80 times
– Unvoluntary publication of information: 39 times
– Lost paper: 13 times
– stolen or left accessible in an unsecured location: 13 times
– Personal information disclosed verbally: 4 times
– Equipment lost or stolen: 30 times
– Mail lost or opened before being returned to sender: 3 times
– Disposal of paper documents containing personal data without physical destruction: 1 time
– Disposal of digital devices containing personal data without secure erasure: 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.