GDPR: CNIL report on data breaches – March 2023

Introduction

In 2023-03, 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:
– Human health and social action: 128 times
– Public administration: 74 times
– Financial and insurance activities: 64 times
– Specialized, scientific and technical activities: 39 times
– Trade; repair of automobiles and motorcycles: 35 times
– Information and communication: 28 times
– Administrative and support services activities: 20 times
– Other service activities: 20 times
– Manufacturing industry: 18 times
– Teaching: 17 times
– Real estate activities: 11 times
– Transportation and storage: 9 times
– Construction: 8 times
– Accommodation and catering: 5 times
– Arts, entertainment and recreational activities: 4 times
– Agriculture, forestry and fishing: 1 time

Nature of violations

The types of violations encountered this month are:
– Loss of privacy: 441 times
– Loss of integrity: 75 times
– Loss of availability: 108 times

Number of people impacted

The number of people affected by these incidents is distributed as follows:
– Between 301 and 5000 people: 164 times
– Between 0 and 5 people: 111 times
– Between 51 and 300 people: 80 times
– Between 6 and 50 people: 79 times
– More than 5000 people: 47 times

Typologies of impacted data

The data typologies affected by the breaches are:
– Marital status (eg: name: 368 times
– gender: 368 times
– date of birth: 368 times
– age...): 368 times
– NIR (Directory Registration Number): 92 times
– Contact details (e.g. postal or email address: 377 times
– landline or mobile phone numbers...): 377 times
– Data relating to financial information (e.g. income: 150 times
– credit card number: 150 times
– bank details): 150 times
– economical: 150 times
– Official documents (Passports: 105 times
– ID: 105 times
– etc.): 105 times
– Location data: 29 times
– Data relating to offenses: 11 times
– convictions: 11 times
– security measures: 11 times
– The breach concerns other data: 166 times
– Identification or access data (e.g. identifier: 137 times
– password: 137 times
– customer number...): 137 times
– The data concerned is not known at the moment: 47 times

Origins of incidents

The main causes of these violations are:
– Hacking: 281 times
– malware (e.g. ransomware) and/or phishing: 281 times
– Other: 79 times
– Unvoluntary publication of information: 35 times
– Equipment lost or stolen: 28 times
– Personal data sent to the wrong recipient: 59 times
– Lost paper: 8 times
– stolen or left accessible in an unsecured location: 8 times
– Data of the wrong person displayed on the customer portal: 7 times
– Personal information disclosed verbally: 3 times
– Disposal of paper documents containing personal data without physical destruction: 2 times
– Mail lost or opened before being returned to sender: 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.