Denmark’s Central Person Register (CPR) is informing around 8.8 million individuals that their personal details were stolen in a data breach. Founded in 1968, CPR is the country’s national civil registration system. It has data on around 11 million persons including residents, citizens who are abroad as well as people who have died. On Monday, CPR disclosed that hackers utilized a Danish organization’s lawful access to the system to obtain individual’s personal information.

Incident Discovery

The 10-digit CPR number assigned to each individual is used for multiple purposes. A CPR number has 10 digits: 6 for the date of birth and 4 serial digits, the last of which is even for women and odd for men. The CPR authorities discovered on 2nd October that there had been suspicious activity in the system in September. Over the weekend the extent of the unauthorized access became known. On 4th October it informed the Danish Data Protection Agency.

Statement by Danish Authorities

The Danish Ministry of Research, Education and Digitalization announced the incident on 5th October. Christina Egelund, Minister of Research, Education and Digitalisation stated “This is a deeply serious incident, which I have therefore also informed the Danish Parliament’s Business and Digitalisation Committee about. Together with all relevant authorities, we are in the process of mapping the entire extent of the incident.” She urged Danes to be vigilant about suspicious calls and emails.

While Denmark has a population of about 6 million, the register contains records on around 11 million persons, including those who have died or moved abroad.

SOURCES:-

https://www.securityweek.com/8-8-million-impacted-by-data-breach-at-denmarks-central-person-register/

https://www.rescana.com/post/denmark-central-person-register-cpr-breach-cyberattack-exposes-data-of-8-8-million-via-company-account-in-2026

https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2026/10/06/denmark-central-population-register-cpr-data-breach/

https://www.business-standard.com/world-news/denmark-data-breach-exposes-personal-details-of-8-8-million-people-126100500435_1.html

https://thehackernews.com/2026/10/denmark-says-attackers-accessed-cpr.html