GDPR: CNIL report on data breaches – July 2023

Introduction

In 2023-07, 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: 54 times
– Financial and insurance activities: 46 times
– Human health and social action: 31 times
– Specialized, scientific and technical activities: 26 times
– Information and communication: 24 times
– Trade; repair of automobiles and motorcycles: 22 times
– Manufacturing industry: 19 times
– Teaching: 15 times
– Other service activities: 14 times
– Administrative and support services activities: 14 times
– Transportation and storage: 8 times
– Real estate activities: 6 times
– Construction: 5 times
– Arts, entertainment and recreational activities: 3 times
– Water production and distribution; sanitation, waste management and depollution: 2 times
– Extra-territorial activities: 1 time
– Accommodation and catering: 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: 263 times
– Loss of integrity: 56 times
– Loss of availability: 95 times

Number of people impacted

The number of people affected by these incidents is distributed as follows:
– Between 0 and 5 people: 81 times
– Between 301 and 5000 people: 66 times
– Between 51 and 300 people: 56 times
– Between 6 and 50 people: 48 times
– More than 5000 people: 41 times

Typologies of impacted data

The data typologies affected by the breaches are:
– The data concerned is not known at the moment: 52 times
– Contact details (e.g. postal or email address: 214 times
– landline or mobile phone numbers...): 214 times
– Data relating to financial information (e.g. income: 115 times
– credit card number: 115 times
– bank details): 115 times
– economical: 115 times
– Marital status (eg: name: 210 times
– gender: 210 times
– date of birth: 210 times
– age...): 210 times
– Identification or access data (e.g. identifier: 92 times
– password: 92 times
– customer number...): 92 times
– The breach concerns other data: 55 times
– Official documents (Passports: 48 times
– ID: 48 times
– etc.): 48 times
– NIR (Directory Registration Number): 54 times
– Location data: 22 times
– Data relating to offenses: 12 times
– convictions: 12 times
– security measures: 12 times

Origins of incidents

The main causes of these violations are:
– Other: 65 times
– Personal data sent to the wrong recipient: 46 times
– Unvoluntary publication of information: 24 times
– Hacking: 127 times
– malware (e.g. ransomware) and/or phishing: 127 times
– Equipment lost or stolen: 29 times
– Bad person data displayed on customer portal: 13 times
– Personal information disclosed verbally: 4 times
– Lost paper: 26 times
– stolen or left accessible in an unsecured location: 26 times
– Disposal of digital devices containing personal data without secure erasure: 2 times
– Mail lost or opened before being returned to sender: 3 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.