GDPR: CNIL report on data breaches – January 2021

Introduction

In 2021-01, 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:
– Specialized, scientific and technical activities: 43 times
– Public administration: 37 times
– Financial and insurance activities: 32 times
– Information and communication: 25 times
– Trade; repair of automobiles and motorcycles: 23 times
– Human health and social action: 21 times
– Teaching: 13 times
– Administrative and support services activities: 10 times
– Manufacturing industry: 8 times
– Transportation and storage: 6 times
– Other service activities: 6 times
– Accommodation and catering: 2 times
– Construction: 2 times
– Real estate activities: 2 times
– Water production and distribution; sanitation, waste management and depollution: 1 time
– 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: 197 times
– Loss of availability: 67 times
– Loss of integrity: 39 times

Number of people impacted

The number of people affected by these incidents is distributed as follows:
– Between 0 and 5 people: 62 times
– Between 301 and 5000 people: 54 times
– Between 51 and 300 people: 45 times
– More than 5000 people: 39 times
– Between 6 and 50 people: 32 times

Typologies of impacted data

The data typologies affected by the breaches are:
– Marital status (eg: name: 168 times
– gender: 168 times
– date of birth: 168 times
– age...): 168 times
– Contact details (e.g. postal or email address: 170 times
– landline or mobile phone numbers...): 170 times
– The breach concerns other data: 49 times
– Identification or access data (e.g. identifier: 71 times
– password: 71 times
– customer number...): 71 times
– Data relating to financial information (e.g. income: 76 times
– credit card number: 76 times
– bank details): 76 times
– economical: 76 times
– Official documents (Passports: 31 times
– ID: 31 times
– etc.): 31 times
– NIR (Directory Registration Number): 43 times
– The data concerned is not known at the moment: 26 times
– Location data: 16 times
– Data relating to offenses: 4 times
– convictions: 4 times
– security measures: 4 times

Origins of incidents

The main causes of these violations are:
– Other: 49 times
– Personal data sent to the wrong recipient: 41 times
– Unvoluntary publication of information: 23 times
– Hacking: 92 times
– malware (e.g. ransomware) and/or phishing: 92 times
– Bad person data displayed on customer portal: 11 times
– Equipment lost or stolen: 22 times
– Mail lost or opened before being returned to sender: 4 times
– Disposal of digital devices containing personal data without secure erasure: 1 time
– Personal information disclosed verbally: 2 times
– Disposal of paper documents containing personal data without physical destruction: 1 time
– Lost paper: 2 times
– stolen or left accessible in an unsecured location: 2 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.