In 2024, the personal data breaches documented by the CNIL share a common technical point: insufficiently protected cloud accounts. Messaging services, office suites, shared storage spaces. Simple password authentication is no longer an acceptable barrier against current attack techniques. Protecting personal data on the Internet in 2024 requires thinking in layers of overlapping security, not in isolated lists of best practices.
Access Logging and Traceability: The Often Overlooked Technical Foundation
The CNIL has formalized in a dedicated recommendation a security mechanism that is still little applied by individuals: logging access to information systems. This traceability involves recording each user action (login, consultation, modification, export) with a timestamp and identifier.
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The CNIL recommends retaining these logs for between six months and a year, with active analysis to detect abnormal behaviors. This is not reserved for large companies. Every online service you use should apply this principle.
In practice, we recommend checking if your cloud service providers offer a viewable activity history. Gmail, Microsoft 365, and most password managers provide a log of recent logins. Check it regularly. A login from an unknown geolocation or an unrecognized device signals a potential compromise before it causes damage.
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The resources offered by Cyber sPass detail these traceability mechanisms applied to different digital contexts, from individuals to professional structures.
Multi-Factor Authentication on Cloud Services: Why Passwords Alone Are No Longer Enough
The CNIL states unequivocally: enabling multi-factor authentication would have prevented the majority of incidents observed in 2024. The observation is technical, not hypothetical. Credential stuffing attacks (reusing username/password pairs from previous leaks) work precisely because the password remains the only lock.
Multi-factor adds an independent verification of the password. There are three categories:
- A physical element: FIDO2 security key (YubiKey, Titan), which remains the most resistant factor against phishing as it cryptographically verifies the domain of the site
- A temporary code generated locally: TOTP app (Google Authenticator, Authy), preferable to SMS as it cannot be intercepted by SIM swapping
- A biometric confirmation on the device: fingerprint or facial recognition linked to the terminal, used as a second factor by passkeys
We still observe too many configurations where multi-factor is enabled on the main account but absent from secondary services (cloud storage, collaborative tools, CRM). The security chain gives way at the weakest link.
Defense in Depth Applied to Personal Data Online
The CNIL uses the term defense in depth to describe the expected security architecture, including for non-technical organizations. The principle is military in origin: several successive lines of protection, so that the breach of one layer does not compromise the whole.
Applied to the protection of your personal data on the Internet, this translates into a stack of complementary measures:
- Limiting extraction capabilities: a user account should never be able to export an entire database in a single operation
- Segmenting access rights: each service or collaborator accesses only the information strictly necessary for their function
- Encryption at rest and in transit: data stored on a cloud server must be encrypted even if an attacker accesses the physical storage
- Fine logging coupled with automated alerts for abnormal behaviors
This approach explains why a VPN alone, or an antivirus alone, does not protect much. Each layer compensates for the potential flaws of the previous one.
AI Act and GDPR: The Dual Regulatory Framework Changing the Game in 2024
The entry into force of the European AI Act on August 1, 2024 has created an unprecedented regulatory situation. Any online service integrating artificial intelligence and processing personal data must now comply simultaneously with both the GDPR and the AI Act.
For the user, the direct consequence concerns generative AI tools (chatbots, image generators, automatic synthesis tools). When you enter personal information into these tools, the provider must document the legal basis for processing, the purposes, and the risks associated with the model.
Concrete Checks to Perform
Before using an online AI service with personal data, consult its privacy policy. Look for three pieces of information: whether your data is used to train the model (and if you can refuse), the retention period of conversations, and whether a transfer outside the EU is planned.
Serious providers now offer an explicit opt-out from training on your data. If this option is absent, we recommend considering that everything you enter will be reused.
The convergence of GDPR/AI Act reinforces a simple requirement: only transmit to an AI tool the data whose loss or dissemination would not cause you any harm. No technical layer will recover sensitive information voluntarily entered into a third-party form.