GDPR: CNIL report on data breaches – October 2023

Introduction

In 2023-10, 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: 78 times
– Trade; repair of automobiles and motorcycles: 56 times
– Specialized, scientific and technical activities: 51 times
– Financial and insurance activities: 43 times
– Human health and social action: 39 times
– Information and communication: 29 times
– Teaching: 20 times
– Other service activities: 20 times
– Manufacturing industry: 14 times
– Real estate activities: 10 times
– Administrative and support services activities: 9 times
– Transportation and storage: 9 times
– Construction: 5 times
– Accommodation and catering: 4 times
– Arts, entertainment and recreational activities: 3 times
– Production and distribution of electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning: 2 times
– 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: 365 times
– Loss of availability: 68 times
– Loss of integrity: 51 times

Number of people impacted

The number of people affected by these incidents is distributed as follows:
– Between 0 and 5 people: 138 times
– Between 301 and 5000 people: 81 times
– Between 6 and 50 people: 70 times
– Between 51 and 300 people: 69 times
– More than 5000 people: 35 times

Typologies of impacted data

The data typologies affected by the breaches are:
– Marital status (eg: name: 268 times
– gender: 268 times
– date of birth: 268 times
– age...): 268 times
– Contact details (e.g. postal or email address: 269 times
– landline or mobile phone numbers...): 269 times
– Identification or access data (e.g. identifier: 117 times
– password: 117 times
– customer number...): 117 times
– The data concerned is not known at the moment: 47 times
– The breach concerns other data: 72 times
– NIR (Directory Registration Number): 54 times
– Data relating to financial information (e.g. income: 116 times
– credit card number: 116 times
– bank details): 116 times
– economical: 116 times
– Official documents (Passports: 51 times
– ID: 51 times
– etc.): 51 times
– Location data: 36 times
– Data relating to offenses: 8 times
– convictions: 8 times
– security measures: 8 times

Origins of incidents

The main causes of these violations are:
– Hacking: 154 times
– malware (e.g. ransomware) and/or phishing: 154 times
– Unvoluntary publication of information: 58 times
– Personal data sent to the wrong recipient: 51 times
– Bad person data displayed on customer portal: 12 times
– Other: 97 times
– Equipment lost or stolen: 41 times
– Personal information disclosed verbally: 11 times
– Lost paper: 10 times
– stolen or left accessible in an unsecured location: 10 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.