GDPR: CNIL report on data breaches – November 2021

Introduction

In 2021-11, 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: 41 times
– Specialized, scientific and technical activities: 38 times
– Trade; repair of automobiles and motorcycles: 37 times
– Human health and social action: 36 times
– Financial and insurance activities: 27 times
– Information and communication: 16 times
– Real estate activities: 16 times
– Manufacturing industry: 12 times
– Other service activities: 12 times
– Teaching: 11 times
– Transportation and storage: 10 times
– Construction: 9 times
– Accommodation and catering: 6 times
– Administrative and support services activities: 5 times
– Arts, entertainment and recreational activities: 4 times
– Agriculture, forestry and fishing: 1 time
– Water production and distribution; sanitation, waste management and depollution: 1 time

Nature of violations

The types of violations encountered this month are:
– Loss of privacy: 246 times
– Loss of integrity: 50 times
– Loss of availability: 86 times

Number of people impacted

The number of people affected by these incidents is distributed as follows:
– Between 301 and 5000 people: 70 times
– Between 0 and 5 people: 59 times
– Between 6 and 50 people: 59 times
– Between 51 and 300 people: 58 times
– More than 5000 people: 36 times

Typologies of impacted data

The data typologies affected by the breaches are:
– Marital status (eg: name: 198 times
– gender: 198 times
– date of birth: 198 times
– age...): 198 times
– Contact details (e.g. postal or email address: 200 times
– landline or mobile phone numbers...): 200 times
– Data relating to offenses: 15 times
– convictions: 15 times
– security measures: 15 times
– NIR (Directory Registration Number): 68 times
– Identification or access data (e.g. identifier: 101 times
– password: 101 times
– customer number...): 101 times
– Data relating to financial information (e.g. income: 100 times
– credit card number: 100 times
– bank details): 100 times
– economical: 100 times
– Official documents (Passports: 60 times
– ID: 60 times
– etc.): 60 times
– The breach concerns other data: 57 times
– The data concerned is not known at the moment: 37 times
– Location data: 25 times

Origins of incidents

The main causes of these violations are:
– Mail lost or opened before being returned to sender: 3 times
– Personal data sent to the wrong recipient: 25 times
– Hack: 131 times
– malware (e.g. ransomware) and/or phishing: 131 times
– Personal information disclosed verbally: 5 times
– Other: 76 times
– Equipment lost or stolen: 27 times
– Lost paper: 10 times
– stolen or left accessible in an unsecured location: 10 times
– Bad person data displayed on customer portal: 10 times
– Unvoluntary publication of information: 26 times
– Disposal of paper documents containing personal data without physical destruction: 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.