GDPR: CNIL report on data breaches – March 2020

Introduction

In 2020-03, 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: 34 times
– Public administration: 25 times
– Specialized, scientific and technical activities: 21 times
– Financial and insurance activities: 15 times
– Information and communication: 14 times
– Human health and social action: 12 times
– Manufacturing industry: 10 times
– Administrative and support services activities: 9 times
– Transportation and storage: 6 times
– Other service activities: 6 times
– Arts, entertainment and recreational activities: 4 times
– Real estate activities: 3 times
– Teaching: 3 times
– Construction: 3 times
– Production and distribution of electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning: 2 times
– Accommodation and catering: 1 time

Nature of violations

The types of violations encountered this month are:
– Loss of privacy: 161 times
– Loss of integrity: 20 times
– Loss of availability: 33 times

Number of people impacted

The number of people affected by these incidents is distributed as follows:
– Between 0 and 5 people: 51 times
– Between 301 and 5000 people: 36 times
– More than 5000 people: 31 times
– Between 6 and 50 people: 28 times
– Between 51 and 300 people: 22 times

Typologies of impacted data

The data typologies affected by the breaches are:
– Marital status (eg: name: 116 times
– gender: 116 times
– date of birth: 116 times
– age...): 116 times
– Contact details (e.g. postal or email address: 122 times
– landline or mobile phone numbers...): 122 times
– Identification or access data (e.g. identifier: 76 times
– password: 76 times
– customer number...): 76 times
– The breach concerns other data: 17 times
– NIR (Directory Registration Number): 20 times
– Data relating to financial information (e.g. income: 57 times
– credit card number: 57 times
– bank details): 57 times
– economical: 57 times
– The data concerned is not known at the moment: 18 times
– Location data: 10 times
– Data relating to offenses: 3 times
– convictions: 3 times
– security measures: 3 times
– Official documents (Passports: 19 times
– ID: 19 times
– etc.): 19 times

Origins of incidents

The main causes of these violations are:
– Hacking: 86 times
– malware (e.g. ransomware) and/or phishing: 86 times
– Other: 29 times
– Personal data sent to the wrong recipient: 24 times
– Unvoluntary publication of information: 18 times
– Equipment lost or stolen: 15 times
– Lost paper: 3 times
– stolen or left accessible in an unsecured location: 3 times
– Bad person data displayed on customer portal: 11 times
– Disposal of digital devices containing personal data without secure erasure: 1 time
– Mail lost or opened before being returned to sender: 1 time
– Personal information disclosed verbally: 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.