Science & Tech · Cybersecurity · 4 hrs ago
University of Copenhagen breach exposes data of 525,000 people
Hackers accessed a University of Copenhagen test environment containing personal information about around 525,000 people.
The breach affected people whose names, national identity numbers, phone numbers or email addresses were stored there.
Around 20,000 staff and students also had building access PINs exposed, prompting the university to restrict access to some campus locations while it changed the codes.
The university says it detected and contained the attack, and there is no indication that systems supporting daily operations were accessed.
However, one account says some administrative systems were disrupted, while another says university activities were not affected.
The exposed information could help attackers create convincing phishing messages or attempt identity fraud.
The university reported the breach to Denmark’s data protection authority and says it is investigating the full impact, with further updates to come.
Hackers accessed a University of Copenhagen test environment containing personal data linked to about 525,000 people.
The university said the exposed information may include names, national identity numbers, phone numbers and email addresses.
An update added about 20,000 staff and students whose physical access PIN codes were compromised.
The university detected the breach on October 20 and disclosed it on October 23.
The university said it contained the attack and reported the incident to Denmark’s data protection agency.
- Who
- Hackers accessed data held by the University of Copenhagen.
- What
- A breach exposed personal information linked to about 525,000 people, and physical access PIN codes for about 20,000 staff and students.
- When
- The university detected the breach on October 20 and disclosed it on October 23.
- Where
- A test environment at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark.
- Why
- Not stated
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
The university detected the breach.
The university disclosed the incident and restricted access to selected critical campus locations while it reset compromised PIN codes.
The university updated its disclosure to include about 20,000 staff and students whose PIN codes were exposed.
- People affected
- About 525,000
- PIN codes exposed
- About 20,000 staff and students
- Incident detected
- October 20
- Public disclosure
- October 23
- Reported to
- Danish Data Protection Agency
3 sources
What people are saying
The University of Copenhagen has confirmed a cyber attack in which hackers gained access to one of the university’s test environments
there is no indication