8.8 Million Personal Records Stolen in Denmark—What Happened in a Country of Only 6 Million?

Information Stolen Over Ten Days Using Private Company Access Rights
Including Deceased and Emigrants; Government Admits Inadequate Security

In Denmark, there has been a breach in which the personal information of 8.8 million people—surpassing the country's total population—was stolen. The government has admitted to inadequate security management.

According to The Copenhagen Post on the 5th (local time), Kristina Egelund, Denmark’s Minister for Digitalization, stated that the security measures regarding private sector access to the national personal data registration system (CPR) were insufficient.

The photo is not related to the specific content of the article. Pixabay

The report states that unauthorized outsiders exploited the inquiry privileges held by a small Danish company and, over about ten days last month, stole the personal information of 8.8 million people. The stolen data included names, addresses, and CPR numbers—the Danish equivalent of social security numbers. The scale of the breach exceeds Denmark’s current population of about 6 million because the system also contains information on deceased persons and emigrants.

An employee at the CPR management agency detected abnormal activity on the 2nd. Authorities confirmed the security breach the day after. While the company was authorized to access CPR registration data, it was discovered that external individuals had abused this privilege. That company’s access rights have now been revoked.

Minister Egelund admitted that, since the abnormal activities continued for several days, the alert systems should have been triggered sooner. She said, “This is a serious incident, and it should never have happened.”

However, as the investigation is ongoing, authorities have not disclosed details such as the company’s name. They have also not revealed how the individuals accessed the personal information or how the company’s access details were obtained.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.