GDPR: CNIL report on data breaches – November 2020

Introduction

In 2020-11, 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:
– Human health and social action: 77 times
– Trade; repair of automobiles and motorcycles: 44 times
– Specialized, scientific and technical activities: 38 times
– Public administration: 32 times
– Information and communication: 26 times
– Financial and insurance activities: 23 times
– Manufacturing industry: 19 times
– Other service activities: 12 times
– Administrative and support services activities: 11 times
– Teaching: 8 times
– Transportation and storage: 4 times
– Arts, entertainment and recreational activities: 4 times
– Real estate activities: 4 times
– Construction: 3 times
– Production and distribution of electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning: 3 times
– Accommodation and catering: 2 times
– Unknown: 1 time
– Extra-territorial activities: 1 time

Nature of violations

The types of violations encountered this month are:
– Loss of privacy: 217 times
– Loss of integrity: 42 times
– Loss of availability: 133 times

Number of people impacted

The number of people affected by these incidents is distributed as follows:
– Between 51 and 300 people: 106 times
– Between 301 and 5000 people: 74 times
– Between 0 and 5 people: 58 times
– Between 6 and 50 people: 42 times
– More than 5000 people: 32 times

Typologies of impacted data

The data typologies affected by the breaches are:
– Marital status (eg: name: 231 times
– gender: 231 times
– date of birth: 231 times
– age...): 231 times
– Contact details (e.g. postal or email address: 239 times
– landline or mobile phone numbers...): 239 times
– Data relating to financial information (e.g. income: 154 times
– credit card number: 154 times
– bank details): 154 times
– economical: 154 times
– NIR (Directory Registration Number): 98 times
– Identification or access data (e.g. identifier: 141 times
– password: 141 times
– customer number...): 141 times
– Official documents (Passports: 39 times
– ID: 39 times
– etc.): 39 times
– Location data: 24 times
– Data relating to offenses: 8 times
– convictions: 8 times
– security measures: 8 times
– The data concerned is not known at the moment: 45 times
– The breach concerns other data: 39 times

Origins of incidents

The main causes of these violations are:
– Unvoluntary publication of information: 27 times
– Bad person data displayed on customer portal: 9 times
– Personal data sent to the wrong recipient: 34 times
– Hacking: 136 times
– malware (e.g. ransomware) and/or phishing: 136 times
– Other: 106 times
– Disposal of paper documents containing personal data without physical destruction: 2 times
– Equipment lost or stolen: 12 times
– Lost paper: 1 time
– stolen or left accessible in an unsecured location: 1 time
– Personal information disclosed verbally: 1 time
– 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.