GDPR: CNIL report on data breaches – February 2023

Introduction

In 2023-02, 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: 78 times
– Specialized, scientific and technical activities: 66 times
– Information and communication: 40 times
– Human health and social action: 36 times
– Financial and insurance activities: 34 times
– Trade; repair of automobiles and motorcycles: 32 times
– Teaching: 30 times
– Manufacturing industry: 26 times
– Other service activities: 15 times
– Transportation and storage: 13 times
– Construction: 13 times
– Administrative and support services activities: 9 times
– Real estate activities: 8 times
– Accommodation and catering: 4 times
– Production and distribution of electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning: 3 times
– Arts, entertainment and recreational activities: 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: 331 times
– Loss of integrity: 88 times
– Loss of availability: 142 times

Number of people impacted

The number of people affected by these incidents is distributed as follows:
– Between 301 and 5000 people: 98 times
– Between 51 and 300 people: 94 times
– Between 0 and 5 people: 91 times
– Between 6 and 50 people: 69 times
– More than 5000 people: 58 times

Typologies of impacted data

The data typologies affected by the breaches are:
– Marital status (eg: name: 278 times
– gender: 278 times
– date of birth: 278 times
– age...): 278 times
– Contact details (e.g. postal or email address: 295 times
– landline or mobile phone numbers...): 295 times
– The breach concerns other data: 101 times
– Data relating to financial information (e.g. income: 126 times
– credit card number: 126 times
– bank details): 126 times
– economical: 126 times
– Identification or access data (e.g. identifier: 133 times
– password: 133 times
– customer number...): 133 times
– The data concerned is not known at the moment: 55 times
– Official documents (Passports: 66 times
– ID: 66 times
– etc.): 66 times
– NIR (Directory Registration Number): 70 times
– Location data: 28 times
– Data relating to offenses: 11 times
– convictions: 11 times
– security measures: 11 times

Origins of incidents

The main causes of these violations are:
– Personal data sent to the wrong recipient: 52 times
– Hacking: 220 times
– malware (e.g. ransomware) and/or phishing: 220 times
– Other: 80 times
– Unvoluntary publication of information: 34 times
– Equipment lost or stolen: 29 times
– Bad person data displayed on customer portal: 11 times
– Lost paper: 10 times
– stolen or left accessible in an unsecured location: 10 times
– Personal information disclosed verbally: 3 times
– Disposal of digital devices containing personal data without secure erasure: 1 time
– 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.