GDPR: CNIL report on data breaches – October 2020

Introduction

In 2020-10, 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: 38 times
– Specialized, scientific and technical activities: 31 times
– Trade; repair of automobiles and motorcycles: 25 times
– Financial and insurance activities: 20 times
– Manufacturing industry: 20 times
– Information and communication: 17 times
– Human health and social action: 16 times
– Teaching: 12 times
– Other service activities: 10 times
– Accommodation and catering: 10 times
– Real estate activities: 10 times
– Transportation and storage: 7 times
– Administrative and support services activities: 5 times
– Arts, entertainment and recreational activities: 3 times
– Production and distribution of electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning: 1 time
– Construction: 1 time

Nature of violations

The types of violations encountered this month are:
– Loss of privacy: 185 times
– Loss of integrity: 50 times
– Loss of availability: 62 times

Number of people impacted

The number of people affected by these incidents is distributed as follows:
– Between 6 and 50 people: 56 times
– Between 0 and 5 people: 54 times
– Between 51 and 300 people: 43 times
– Between 301 and 5000 people: 42 times
– More than 5000 people: 31 times

Typologies of impacted data

The data typologies affected by the breaches are:
– Marital status (eg: name: 155 times
– gender: 155 times
– date of birth: 155 times
– age...): 155 times
– Contact details (e.g. postal or email address: 164 times
– landline or mobile phone numbers...): 164 times
– Data relating to financial information (e.g. income: 81 times
– credit card number: 81 times
– bank details): 81 times
– economical: 81 times
– Identification or access data (e.g. identifier: 78 times
– password: 78 times
– customer number...): 78 times
– The breach concerns other data: 36 times
– NIR (Directory Registration Number): 37 times
– Official documents (Passports: 29 times
– ID: 29 times
– etc.): 29 times
– Location data: 12 times
– The data concerned is not known at the moment: 35 times
– Data relating to offenses: 8 times
– convictions: 8 times
– security measures: 8 times

Origins of incidents

The main causes of these violations are:
– Unvoluntary publication of information: 21 times
– Hacking: 107 times
– malware (e.g. ransomware) and/or phishing: 107 times
– Other: 49 times
– Bad person data displayed on customer portal: 9 times
– Personal data sent to the wrong recipient: 34 times
– Equipment lost or stolen: 24 times
– Disposal of paper documents containing personal data without physical destruction: 1 time
– Disposal of digital devices containing personal data without secure erasure: 2 times
– Personal information disclosed verbally: 1 time
– Lost paper: 3 times
– stolen or left accessible in an unsecured location: 3 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.