GDPR: CNIL report on data breaches – March 2024

Introduction

In March 2024, 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: 84 times
– Trade; repair of automobiles and motorcycles: 76 times
– Human health and social action: 45 times
– Financial and insurance activities: 44 times
– Specialized, scientific and technical activities: 37 times
– Information and communication: 28 times
– Teaching: 20 times
– Other service activities: 16 times
– Real estate activities: 14 times
– Manufacturing industry: 14 times
– Administrative and support services activities: 13 times
– Transportation and storage: 12 times
– Arts, entertainment and recreational activities: 8 times
– Accommodation and catering: 6 times
– Construction: 4 times
– Agriculture, forestry and fishing: 2 times
– Water production and distribution; sanitation, waste management and depollution: 2 times
– 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 availability: 70 times
– Loss of privacy: 388 times
– Loss of integrity: 69 times

Number of people impacted

The number of people affected by these incidents is distributed as follows:
– Between 0 and 5 people: 131 times
– Between 301 and 5000 people: 91 times
– Between 51 and 300 people: 76 times
– Between 6 and 50 people: 71 times
– More than 5000 people: 57 times

Typologies of impacted data

The data typologies affected by the breaches are:
– Marital status (eg: name: 317 times
– gender: 317 times
– date of birth: 317 times
– age...): 317 times
– NIR (Directory Registration Number): 66 times
– Contact details (e.g. postal or email address: 313 times
– landline or mobile phone numbers...): 313 times
– Identification or access data (e.g. identifier: 155 times
– password: 155 times
– customer number...): 155 times
– Data relating to offenses: 6 times
– convictions: 6 times
– security measures: 6 times
– The breach concerns other data: 84 times
– Data relating to financial information (e.g. income: 133 times
– credit card number: 133 times
– bank details): 133 times
– economical: 133 times
– Official documents (Passports: 46 times
– ID: 46 times
– etc.): 46 times
– Location data: 27 times
– The data concerned is not known at the moment: 38 times

Origins of incidents

The main causes of these violations are:
– Other: 87 times
– Unvoluntary publication of information: 39 times
– Hacking: 204 times
– malware (e.g. ransomware) and/or phishing: 204 times
– Personal data sent to the wrong recipient: 65 times
– Lost paper: 15 times
– stolen or left accessible in an unsecured location: 15 times
– Equipment lost or stolen: 26 times
– Bad person data displayed on customer portal: 17 times
– Personal information disclosed verbally: 4 times
– Disposal of digital devices containing personal data without secure erasure: 1 time
– Disposal of paper documents containing personal data without physical destruction: 3 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.