Personal data on 8.8 million people leaked in Denmark ... more than the country's entire population

[Financial News] A major personal data theft has occurred in Denmark, with the names, addresses and national identification numbers of 8.8 million people—more than the country’s entire population—leaked.
According to The Copenhagen Post on the 6th (local time), an unidentified intruder accessed Denmark’s national personal data registration system (CPR) over a period of about 10 days last month and stole the personal information of 8.8 million people.
The leaked information included names, addresses and CPR numbers, which are equivalent to national identification numbers. The system contains records of deceased people and immigrants, among others. The total number of leaked records exceeded Denmark’s current population of about 6 million. According to Danish authorities, the CPR stores data on about 11 million people.
On the 5th, Danish Minister for Digital Affairs Christina Egelund described the incident as “very serious” and said, “We are working with the relevant authorities to determine the exact scale and circumstances of the incident.”
The perpetrators stole personal information by using the legitimate access privileges held by a small private company to access the CPR. On the 2nd, an employee of the CPR’s administrative unit detected unusual activity and reported it to the authorities. The company’s access has now been blocked.
Minister Egelund acknowledged that security measures related to the company’s access privileges had been inadequate, and noted that the activity should have been detected earlier, given that it had continued for several days.



[email protected] Lee Seok-woo, International Affairs Correspondent Reporter