Hackers get personal information on 8.8 million people in Denmark government data leak

• Hackers illegally accessed Denmark's national registry, stealing personal data of around 8.8 million people, including names, addresses and social security numbers.
• The breach affected data beyond Denmark's six million population, including deceased and emigrated individuals, raising serious concerns.
• The authorities are investigating the incident, which involved hacking a company with legal registry access; the hackers remain unidentified and access has not yet been revoked.

COPENHAGEN – Hackers broke into Denmark’s national registry and gained access to personal information on millions of people, the digital affairs ministry said on Oct 5.

“The administration of the national registry (Central Person Register) has found that unauthorised individuals obtained illegal access in particular to the names, addresses and CPR numbers of around 8.8 million registered people”, including those who have died or emigrated, the ministry said in a press statement, referring to Denmark’s social security numbers.

“This is an extremely serious incident,” Christina Egelund, digital affairs minister said in the statement.

“Together with all the relevant authorities, we are in the process of mapping out the full extent of the incident,” she added.

Denmark has a population of around six million, but the national registry has information on 11 million, including data of those who have died and people who have emigrated from the country.

An investigation has been launched into the incident, with the hackers not yet identified, the statement said.

They broke into the national registry by hacking into a Danish company that legally had access to it, the government said, adding that the access has not been revoked. AFP