GDPR: CNIL report on data breaches – February 2021

Introduction

In 2021-02, 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: 38 times
– Financial and insurance activities: 37 times
– Specialized, scientific and technical activities: 35 times
– Human health and social action: 23 times
– Trade; repair of automobiles and motorcycles: 20 times
– Teaching: 20 times
– Manufacturing industry: 15 times
– Information and communication: 14 times
– Administrative and support services activities: 7 times
– Other service activities: 7 times
– Transportation and storage: 6 times
– Real estate activities: 6 times
– Arts, entertainment and recreational activities: 4 times
– Accommodation and catering: 2 times
– Construction: 2 times
– Water production and distribution; sanitation, waste management and depollution: 1 time

Nature of violations

The types of violations encountered this month are:
– Loss of privacy: 211 times
– Loss of availability: 66 times
– Loss of integrity: 31 times

Number of people impacted

The number of people affected by these incidents is distributed as follows:
– Between 0 and 5 people: 79 times
– Between 51 and 300 people: 41 times
– Between 301 and 5000 people: 41 times
– More than 5000 people: 39 times
– Between 6 and 50 people: 37 times

Typologies of impacted data

The data typologies affected by the breaches are:
– Marital status (eg: name: 152 times
– gender: 152 times
– date of birth: 152 times
– age...): 152 times
– Contact details (e.g. postal or email address: 148 times
– landline or mobile phone numbers...): 148 times
– Data relating to financial information (e.g. income: 77 times
– credit card number: 77 times
– bank details): 77 times
– economical: 77 times
– The breach concerns other data: 59 times
– Identification or access data (e.g. identifier: 67 times
– password: 67 times
– customer number...): 67 times
– NIR (Directory Registration Number): 46 times
– The data concerned is not known at the moment: 42 times
– Official documents (Passports: 24 times
– ID: 24 times
– etc.): 24 times
– Location data: 6 times
– Data relating to offenses: 5 times
– convictions: 5 times
– security measures: 5 times

Origins of incidents

The main causes of these violations are:
– Hacking: 114 times
– malware (e.g. ransomware) and/or phishing: 114 times
– Other: 46 times
– Personal data sent to the wrong recipient: 40 times
– Unvoluntary publication of information: 18 times
– Equipment lost or stolen: 17 times
– Lost paper: 7 times
– stolen or left accessible in an unsecured location: 7 times
– Bad person data displayed on customer portal: 11 times
– Mail lost or opened before being returned to sender: 3 times
– 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.