A cyberattack in Denmark exposes personal records belonging to eight million people

Danish officials confirmed that attackers broke into a central identity system and took millions of citizen records.

The attack affected about eight million citizens and residents of Denmark. This total includes dead people and people who now live in other countries.

The breached system is the Central Person Register. It is an official computer system that holds citizen records, including numbers used to pay taxes and reach government services.

Denmark has a population of about six million living residents. The system holds around eleven million files, with entries dating back several decades.

Danish minister Christina Egelund described the computer break-in as a serious incident. The attackers took names, street addresses, national social security numbers, and other details.

Officials said the break-in happened in September. Workers did not detect the incident until October 2.

The intruders gained entry by misusing access given to an outside Danish firm. Certain businesses hold legal permission to search the system to check people's identities with the state.

The Danish government has not shared the identity of the person or group behind the attack.

Observers believe this is the largest loss of private data in Danish history.

Other countries have seen similar attacks on state identity systems. Past incidents include a 2016 break-in affecting millions in Turkey and multiple data exposures from India's national citizen registry.