GDPR: CNIL report on data breaches – May 2021

Introduction

In 2021-05, 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:
– Human health and social action: 461 times
– Financial and insurance activities: 92 times
– Public administration: 70 times
– Specialized, scientific and technical activities: 51 times
– Other service activities: 42 times
– Trade; repair of automobiles and motorcycles: 28 times
– Information and communication: 24 times
– Production and distribution of electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning: 19 times
– Manufacturing industry: 17 times
– Teaching: 13 times
– Real estate activities: 10 times
– Administrative and support services activities: 10 times
– Construction: 5 times
– Arts, entertainment and recreational activities: 4 times
– Water production and distribution; sanitation, waste management and depollution: 4 times
– Accommodation and catering: 3 times
– Transportation and storage: 3 times
– Unknown: 2 times

Nature of violations

The types of violations encountered this month are:
– Loss of privacy: 802 times
– Loss of integrity: 110 times
– Loss of availability: 172 times

Number of people impacted

The number of people affected by these incidents is distributed as follows:
– Between 51 and 300 people: 340 times
– Between 301 and 5000 people: 178 times
– Between 6 and 50 people: 146 times
– Between 0 and 5 people: 113 times
– More than 5000 people: 81 times

Typologies of impacted data

The data typologies affected by the breaches are:
– Contact details (e.g. postal or email address: 740 times
– landline or mobile phone numbers...): 740 times
– Data relating to financial information (e.g. income: 622 times
– credit card number: 622 times
– bank details): 622 times
– economical: 622 times
– The breach concerns other data: 474 times
– Marital status (eg: name: 771 times
– gender: 771 times
– date of birth: 771 times
– age...): 771 times
– Identification or access data (e.g. identifier: 606 times
– password: 606 times
– customer number...): 606 times
– NIR (Directory Registration Number): 532 times
– Official documents (Passports: 530 times
– ID: 530 times
– etc.): 530 times
– Data relating to offenses: 22 times
– convictions: 22 times
– security measures: 22 times
– The data concerned is not known at the moment: 56 times
– Location data: 19 times

Origins of incidents

The main causes of these violations are:
– Unvoluntary publication of information: 27 times
– Other: 73 times
– Hacking: 727 times
– malware (e.g. ransomware) and/or phishing: 727 times
– Bad person data displayed on customer portal: 10 times
– Personal data sent to the wrong recipient: 29 times
– Equipment lost or stolen: 15 times
– Lost paper: 7 times
– stolen or left accessible in an unsecured location: 7 times
– 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.