GDPR: CNIL report on data breaches – September 2023

Introduction

In 2023-09, 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:
– Public administration: 56 times
– Human health and social action: 39 times
– Specialized, scientific and technical activities: 35 times
– Financial and insurance activities: 31 times
– Information and communication: 28 times
– Trade; repair of automobiles and motorcycles: 19 times
– Manufacturing industry: 19 times
– Real estate activities: 16 times
– Administrative and support services activities: 16 times
– Teaching: 13 times
– Transportation and storage: 12 times
– Other service activities: 11 times
– Accommodation and catering: 4 times
– Arts, entertainment and recreational activities: 2 times
– Construction: 2 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: 283 times
– Loss of availability: 73 times
– Loss of integrity: 60 times

Number of people impacted

The number of people affected by these incidents is distributed as follows:
– Between 0 and 5 people: 95 times
– Between 301 and 5000 people: 69 times
– Between 6 and 50 people: 54 times
– Between 51 and 300 people: 51 times
– More than 5000 people: 37 times

Typologies of impacted data

The data typologies affected by the breaches are:
– Contact details (e.g. postal or email address: 220 times
– landline or mobile phone numbers...): 220 times
– Identification or access data (e.g. identifier: 110 times
– password: 110 times
– customer number...): 110 times
– Marital status (eg: name: 223 times
– gender: 223 times
– date of birth: 223 times
– age...): 223 times
– Official documents (Passports: 44 times
– ID: 44 times
– etc.): 44 times
– Data relating to financial information (e.g. income: 91 times
– credit card number: 91 times
– bank details): 91 times
– economical: 91 times
– The breach concerns other data: 87 times
– NIR (Directory Registration Number): 49 times
– The data concerned is not known at the moment: 31 times
– Location data: 15 times
– Data relating to offenses: 15 times
– convictions: 15 times
– security measures: 15 times

Origins of incidents

The main causes of these violations are:
– Other: 52 times
– Hacking: 146 times
– malware (e.g. ransomware) and/or phishing: 146 times
– Data of the wrong person displayed on the customer portal: 5 times
– Lost paper: 9 times
– stolen or left accessible in an unsecured location: 9 times
– Personal information disclosed verbally: 6 times
– Equipment lost or stolen: 32 times
– Personal data sent to the wrong recipient: 42 times
– Unvoluntary publication of information: 30 times
– Mail lost or opened before being returned to sender: 1 time
– Disposal of paper documents containing personal data without physical destruction: 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.