Denmark suffered a major data breach that gave unauthorized individuals access to names, addresses and personal identification numbers belonging to about 8.8 million people registered in the country’s central population database.
The breach occurred after unidentified individuals misused a private Danish company’s legitimate access to search the Central Person Register, known as CPR, the government said in a statement Monday.
The company has since been blocked from the system while police investigate the matter, with authorities saying it’s too early to determine who was behind the breach.
“This is a deeply serious incident,” Digitalization Minister Christina Egelund said. She has ordered a comprehensive security review of the CPR system and urged Danes to be vigilant about suspicious calls and emails.
The CPR system is a cornerstone of Denmark’s highly digitized public sector. Every resident is assigned a unique 10-digit CPR number that is widely used to identify ind
ividuals when dealing with government agencies, banks and healthcare providers. While Denmark has a population of about 6 million, the register contains records on roughly 11 million people, including those who have died or moved abroad.
The administration first detected irregular activity on Oct. 2 and determined over the weekend that unauthorized searches had taken place during September. People registered in the system for name and address protection weren’t exposed, it said.
A New Jersey title insurance executive shot his wife and daughter and then shot himself, according to local police and prosecutors.
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Montgomery Township police discovered the double homicide and suicide when responding to a call to check on the occupants of a residence on Wild Azalea Lane. Police did not identify the caller.
According to officials, the officers gained entry into the residence early in the evening on Friday, October 2. They discovered two deceased adult females located within two separate bedrooms. Both victims appeared to hav
e suffered from gunshot wounds. They also found a deceased adult male with what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The deceased male had a firearm. All three were pronounced deceased at the scene by medical personnel.
A postmortem examination identified the female victims as Lora Grodnick, age 62, and Sloane Grodnick, age 24, mother and daughter and confirmed that both deaths were homicides. The deceased male was identified as David Grodnick, age 61, husband to Lora and father to Sloane. His death was confirmed a suicide.
The Montgomery police along with detectives from the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office
Major Crimes Unit, the Crime Scene Investigation Unit, and medical investigators from the New Jersey Northern Regional Medical Examiner’s Office responded to investigate. The investigation remains ongoing.
