Data leak in Denmark: Access to data of 8.8 million people in the population register

In an attack on the Danish population register, unknown persons gained access to the data of 8.8 million people. As the ministry responsible for digital announced, they had access, among other things, to the names, addresses and social security data of registered living and deceased people. The register contains data from around eleven million people. Christina Egelund, Minister for Research, Education and Digitalization, spoke of a “serious security incident.”

The Central Register of Persons (CPR) discovered this incident, the ministry said. The data leak apparently originates from a company. According to the ministry, unauthorized parties used a private Danish company's legitimate access to the register to query data in the CPR system.

"At this point it is not possible to make any statements about who is behind it," the ministry said in a statement. The company's access was blocked.

Ministry calls for vigilance

The population register administration was informed on October 2nd that there had been unusual activity in the CPR system during September. Over the course of the weekend it became clear that unauthorized persons had gained access to data.

An initial check showed that access at least does not include the names and addresses of people who have decided to register with name and address protection.

According to the ministry, the CPR system covers eleven million registered citizens, including living people and residents, as well as deceased people and citizens who have moved abroad. Denmark has around six million inhabitants.

A thorough security check of the population register will now be carried out, it said. The investigations are in the initial phase. The ministry called on citizens to be vigilant and referred to a cyber hotline.