GDPR: CNIL report on data breaches – February 2024

Introduction

In February 2024, 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:
– Financial and insurance activities: 307 times
– Public administration: 144 times
– Trade; repair of automobiles and motorcycles: 82 times
– Human health and social action: 77 times
– Information and communication: 47 times
– Specialized, scientific and technical activities: 45 times
– Administrative and support services activities: 22 times
– Manufacturing industry: 21 times
– Teaching: 20 times
– Other service activities: 14 times
– Real estate activities: 12 times
– Accommodation and catering: 9 times
– Construction: 8 times
– Arts, entertainment and recreational activities: 5 times
– Transportation and storage: 3 times
– Production and distribution of electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning: 3 times
– Water production and distribution; sanitation, waste management and depollution: 2 times
– Extra-territorial activities: 2 times
– Agriculture, forestry and fishing: 2 times

Nature of violations

The types of violations encountered this month are:
– Loss of privacy: 783 times
– Loss of availability: 308 times
– Loss of integrity: 88 times

Number of people impacted

The number of people affected by these incidents is distributed as follows:
– More than 5000 people: 242 times
– Between 0 and 5 people: 185 times
– Between 301 and 5000 people: 155 times
– Between 51 and 300 people: 126 times
– Between 6 and 50 people: 117 times

Typologies of impacted data

The data typologies affected by the breaches are:
– Official documents (Passports: 59 times
– ID: 59 times
– etc.): 59 times
– Marital status (eg: name: 691 times
– gender: 691 times
– date of birth: 691 times
– age...): 691 times
– NIR (Directory Registration Number): 389 times
– Identification or access data (e.g. identifier: 313 times
– password: 313 times
– customer number...): 313 times
– Data relating to financial information (e.g. income: 130 times
– credit card number: 130 times
– bank details): 130 times
– economical: 130 times
– Contact details (e.g. postal or email address: 364 times
– landline or mobile phone numbers...): 364 times
– The breach concerns other data: 206 times
– Location data: 20 times
– The data concerned is not known at the moment: 46 times
– Data relating to offenses: 8 times
– convictions: 8 times
– security measures: 8 times

Origins of incidents

The main causes of these violations are:
– Hacking: 520 times
– malware (e.g. ransomware) and/or phishing: 520 times
– Other: 182 times
– Mail lost or opened before being returned to sender: 8 times
– Unvoluntary publication of information: 39 times
– Personal data sent to the wrong recipient: 56 times
– Equipment lost or stolen: 29 times
– Lost paper: 16 times
– stolen or left accessible in an unsecured location: 16 times
– Bad person data displayed on customer portal: 14 times
– Personal information disclosed verbally: 6 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.