GDPR: CNIL report on data breaches – May 2023

Introduction

In 2023-05, 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:
– Public administration: 74 times
– Other service activities: 60 times
– Specialized, scientific and technical activities: 52 times
– Human health and social action: 40 times
– Financial and insurance activities: 36 times
– Trade; repair of automobiles and motorcycles: 35 times
– Teaching: 25 times
– Information and communication: 23 times
– Manufacturing industry: 18 times
– Administrative and support services activities: 13 times
– Arts, entertainment and recreational activities: 8 times
– Construction: 7 times
– Transportation and storage: 6 times
– Real estate activities: 5 times
– Accommodation and catering: 5 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: 1 time

Nature of violations

The types of violations encountered this month are:
– Loss of availability: 177 times
– Loss of privacy: 308 times
– Loss of integrity: 52 times

Number of people impacted

The number of people affected by these incidents is distributed as follows:
– Between 301 and 5000 people: 138 times
– Between 51 and 300 people: 90 times
– Between 0 and 5 people: 75 times
– Between 6 and 50 people: 64 times
– More than 5000 people: 46 times

Typologies of impacted data

The data typologies affected by the breaches are:
– Marital status (eg: name: 313 times
– gender: 313 times
– date of birth: 313 times
– age...): 313 times
– Contact details (e.g. postal or email address: 320 times
– landline or mobile phone numbers...): 320 times
– Identification or access data (e.g. identifier: 176 times
– password: 176 times
– customer number...): 176 times
– The breach concerns other data: 74 times
– NIR (Directory Registration Number): 110 times
– Data relating to financial information (e.g. income: 162 times
– credit card number: 162 times
– bank details): 162 times
– economical: 162 times
– Official documents (Passports: 64 times
– ID: 64 times
– etc.): 64 times
– Location data: 34 times
– Data relating to offenses: 7 times
– convictions: 7 times
– security measures: 7 times
– The data concerned is not known at the moment: 40 times

Origins of incidents

The main causes of these violations are:
– Other: 81 times
– Unvoluntary publication of information: 32 times
– Hacking: 248 times
– malware (e.g. ransomware) and/or phishing: 248 times
– Equipment lost or stolen: 21 times
– Lost paper: 5 times
– stolen or left accessible in an unsecured location: 5 times
– Personal information disclosed verbally: 5 times
– Personal data sent to the wrong recipient: 37 times
– Data of the wrong person displayed on the customer portal: 4 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.