GDPR: CNIL report on data breaches – January 2019

Introduction

In 2019-01, 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:
– Trade; repair of automobiles and motorcycles: 40 times
– Financial and insurance activities: 28 times
– Public administration: 26 times
– Specialized, scientific and technical activities: 25 times
– Information and communication: 18 times
– Manufacturing industry: 12 times
– Other service activities: 9 times
– Human health and social action: 8 times
– Administrative and support services activities: 8 times
– Teaching: 7 times
– Real estate activities: 6 times
– Transportation and storage: 5 times
– Accommodation and catering: 4 times
– Arts, entertainment and recreational activities: 3 times
– Construction: 3 times
– Production and distribution of electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning: 1 time
– Unknown: 1 time

Nature of violations

The types of violations encountered this month are:
– Loss of privacy: 191 times
– Loss of integrity: 20 times
– Loss of availability: 24 times

Number of people impacted

The number of people affected by these incidents is distributed as follows:
– Between 301 and 5000 people: 59 times
– Between 51 and 300 people: 40 times
– Between 0 and 5 people: 37 times
– Between 6 and 50 people: 35 times
– More than 5000 people: 33 times

Typologies of impacted data

The data typologies affected by the breaches are:
– Marital status (eg: name: 148 times
– gender: 148 times
– date of birth: 148 times
– age...): 148 times
– Contact details (e.g. postal or email address: 142 times
– landline or mobile phone numbers...): 142 times
– Data relating to financial information (e.g. income: 75 times
– credit card number: 75 times
– bank details): 75 times
– economical: 75 times
– Identification or access data (e.g. identifier: 68 times
– password: 68 times
– customer number...): 68 times
– The breach concerns other data: 30 times
– The data concerned is not known at the moment: 10 times
– NIR (Directory Registration Number): 21 times
– Official documents (Passports: 20 times
– ID: 20 times
– etc.): 20 times
– Location data: 14 times
– Data relating to offenses: 5 times
– convictions: 5 times
– security measures: 5 times

Origins of incidents

The main causes of these violations are:
– Other: 48 times
– Hacking: 66 times
– malware (e.g. ransomware) and/or phishing: 66 times
– Personal data sent to the wrong recipient: 37 times
– Unvoluntary publication of information: 24 times
– Equipment lost or stolen: 28 times
– Lost paper: 8 times
– stolen or left accessible in an unsecured location: 8 times
– Mail lost or opened before being returned to sender: 2 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
– Data of the wrong person displayed on the customer portal: 5 times
– Personal information disclosed verbally: 4 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.