Denmark reports registry breach affecting 8.8 million records

Denmark’s government says unauthorized individuals accessed personal records associated with about 8.8 million people in the country’s central population registry by misusing a Danish company’s legitimate access. Authorities have revoked the company’s access and are investigating how the searches were carried out and how much information was reached. The exposed information included names, addresses and CPR numbers, Denmark’s personal identification numbers, according to the Ministry of Research, Education and Digitalization. The reported total refers to registered individuals, not the country’s current population of about six million: the registry also contains records for people who have died or moved abroad. Authorities said people whose names and addresses were protected were not included. Officials said the incident did not involve a direct breach of the registry’s public-facing infrastructure. Instead, unauthorized individuals used access granted to a company that was permitted to search the CPR system. The company’s access has been suspended, and police and specialists are working with government agencies to establish the sequence and scope of the incident.