CPR breach drives 1.1 million more Danes to seek credit warnings

About 1.1 million people have sought credit warnings since personal data was stolen from Denmark’s CPR register, DR reports. The number with a warning has risen from nearly 250,000 to almost 1.4 million.

The breach exposed the names, addresses and CPR numbers of around 8.8 million people. A credit warning makes it harder for someone to take out loans or obtain credit in another person’s name, helping guard against identity fraud.

The Agency for Societal Safety recommended that people with concrete suspicions of fraud apply for a warning. Research, Education and Digitalisation Minister Christina Egelund has said people who have noticed nothing unusual do not need to apply, as the warning can make it harder to obtain credit.

The unauthorised access to the register came through Pays, a company on Funen, and lasted 10 days. It emerged that an employee had used the password 123456 and that two-factor verification was not required to access the information.

People can apply for a credit warning by logging in with MitID on Borger.dk. The warning can later be removed, though the process may take some time. Companies choose whether to receive the warning, which signals that they should take extra care to verify a person’s identity.