A major cyberattack in Denmark resulted in the theft of 8.8 million personal identification numbers (CPR) from the country’s national population register.
According to the hacker who claims responsibility for the attack, the breach was made possible by an extremely weak password: “123456”.
The incident has raised concerns about weak password security, delays in detecting breaches and the risks posed by third-party companies handling sensitive government data, despite claims that core systems remained unaffected.
A computer science professor at Aarhus University described the password security as “appalling”, noting that “123456” is among the first passwords an attacker would try.
The figure exceeds Denmark’s population of 6 million because the records also include people who have died or left the country.
The compromised database reportedly contained names, addresses, national identification numbers and other personal information. According to reports, the individual claiming responsibility for the breach said the password “123456” had been used to access the data through an account linked to Pays ApS, a Danish IT and data services company.
The exact timeline of the incident remains unclear. Some reports indicate that unauthorized activity continued for approximately 12 days, while others suggest that the breach may have gone undetected for nearly 22 days.
Source: Politiken
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