GDPR: CNIL report on data breaches – September 2020

Introduction

In 2020-09, 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:
– Specialized, scientific and technical activities: 48 times
– Human health and social action: 48 times
– Public administration: 41 times
– Other service activities: 38 times
– Financial and insurance activities: 30 times
– Information and communication: 19 times
– Trade; repair of automobiles and motorcycles: 19 times
– Manufacturing industry: 17 times
– Teaching: 14 times
– Transportation and storage: 10 times
– Construction: 7 times
– Administrative and support services activities: 7 times
– Real estate activities: 6 times
– Arts, entertainment and recreational activities: 4 times
– Production and distribution of electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning: 3 times
– Water production and distribution; sanitation, waste management and depollution: 2 times
– Agriculture, forestry and fishing: 2 times
– Accommodation and catering: 1 time

Nature of violations

The types of violations encountered this month are:
– Loss of privacy: 293 times
– Loss of availability: 64 times
– Loss of integrity: 80 times

Number of people impacted

The number of people affected by these incidents is distributed as follows:
– Between 0 and 5 people: 87 times
– Between 6 and 50 people: 80 times
– Between 51 and 300 people: 62 times
– Between 301 and 5000 people: 58 times
– More than 5000 people: 29 times

Typologies of impacted data

The data typologies affected by the breaches are:
– Marital status (eg: name: 240 times
– gender: 240 times
– date of birth: 240 times
– age...): 240 times
– The breach concerns other data: 51 times
– NIR (Directory Registration Number): 42 times
– Contact details (e.g. postal or email address: 244 times
– landline or mobile phone numbers...): 244 times
– Data relating to financial information (e.g. income: 147 times
– credit card number: 147 times
– bank details): 147 times
– economical: 147 times
– The data concerned is not known at the moment: 40 times
– Official documents (Passports: 45 times
– ID: 45 times
– etc.): 45 times
– Data relating to offenses: 10 times
– convictions: 10 times
– security measures: 10 times
– Location data: 19 times
– Identification or access data (e.g. identifier: 71 times
– password: 71 times
– customer number...): 71 times

Origins of incidents

The main causes of these violations are:
– Personal data sent to the wrong recipient: 34 times
– Other: 52 times
– Unvoluntary publication of information: 39 times
– Bad person data displayed on customer portal: 9 times
– Hacking: 171 times
– malware (e.g. ransomware) and/or phishing: 171 times
– Equipment lost or stolen: 30 times
– Personal information disclosed verbally: 6 times
– Lost paper: 6 times
– stolen or left accessible in an unsecured location: 6 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.