GDPR: CNIL report on data breaches – November 2019

Introduction

In 2019-11, 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: 45 times
– Specialized, scientific and technical activities: 44 times
– Financial and insurance activities: 26 times
– Administrative and support services activities: 24 times
– Human health and social action: 19 times
– Information and communication: 18 times
– Trade; repair of automobiles and motorcycles: 15 times
– Manufacturing industry: 13 times
– Other service activities: 11 times
– Transportation and storage: 6 times
– Teaching: 6 times
– Real estate activities: 3 times
– Accommodation and catering: 3 times
– Water production and distribution; sanitation, waste management and depollution: 2 times
– Construction: 2 times
– Production and distribution of electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning: 2 times
– Agriculture, forestry and fishing: 1 time
– Extractive industries: 1 time
– Arts, entertainment and recreational activities: 1 time

Nature of violations

The types of violations encountered this month are:
– Loss of privacy: 218 times
– Loss of availability: 43 times
– Loss of integrity: 26 times

Number of people impacted

The number of people affected by these incidents is distributed as follows:
– Between 301 and 5000 people: 90 times
– Between 0 and 5 people: 52 times
– Between 6 and 50 people: 40 times
– More than 5000 people: 31 times
– Between 51 and 300 people: 29 times

Typologies of impacted data

The data typologies affected by the breaches are:
– Marital status (eg: name: 191 times
– gender: 191 times
– date of birth: 191 times
– age...): 191 times
– Data relating to financial information (e.g. income: 67 times
– credit card number: 67 times
– bank details): 67 times
– economical: 67 times
– Identification or access data (e.g. identifier: 60 times
– password: 60 times
– customer number...): 60 times
– Contact details (e.g. postal or email address: 182 times
– landline or mobile phone numbers...): 182 times
– Official documents (Passports: 31 times
– ID: 31 times
– etc.): 31 times
– NIR (Directory Registration Number): 33 times
– Location data: 28 times
– Data relating to offenses: 6 times
– convictions: 6 times
– security measures: 6 times
– The data concerned is not known at the moment: 22 times
– The breach concerns other data: 45 times

Origins of incidents

The main causes of these violations are:
– Personal data sent to the wrong recipient: 26 times
– Hacking: 76 times
– malware (e.g. ransomware) and/or phishing: 76 times
– Personal information disclosed verbally: 1 time
– Unvoluntary publication of information: 27 times
– Data of the wrong person displayed on the customer portal: 7 times
– Equipment lost or stolen: 38 times
– Lost paper: 10 times
– stolen or left accessible in an unsecured location: 10 times
– Other: 71 times
– Mail lost or opened before being returned to sender: 2 times
– Disposal of digital devices containing personal data without secure erasure: 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.