University of Copenhagen data breach
Was I affected?
University of Copenhagen confirmed a breach affecting about 525,000 people, exposing names, phone numbers, email addresses and national id numbers. You may be affected if you are or were a student, employee or guest at the University of Copenhagen and received a letter about the breach in Digital Post or by email.
| Announced | Oct 23, 2026 |
|---|---|
| When it happened | Detected October 20, 2026 |
| Country | Denmark |
| People affected | 525,000 |
| Data exposed | Names, Phone numbers, Email addresses, National ID numbers and Other details |
| Status | Confirmed by the company or a regulator filing |
What happened
The University of Copenhagen said on October 23, 2026 that attackers broke into one of its test environments and obtained a database of personal data on current and former students, staff and others; it put the total at about 525,000 people. The attack was detected on October 20. Data varies by person but may include names, contact details, university usernames and email addresses, nationality and affiliation, as well as encrypted CPR numbers, which the university says could likely be decrypted because the decryption information was also taken. PIN codes for about 20,000 access cards were also exposed. Home addresses and health information were not in the dataset; the case has been reported to the police and the Danish Data Protection Agency, and affected people were notified via Digital Post from October 27.
What should I do?
- Treat calls, texts and emails that mention the university or your CPR number with suspicion, and never share passwords or MitID details.
- If you reused your UCPH access-card PIN anywhere else, change that code now.
- Consider registering a credit warning (kreditadvarsel) against your CPR number at borger.dk.
- Contact the university's GDPR lines (GDPRbreach@ku.dk, or the student and staff addresses on its breach page) if you have questions.
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Sources
- Information regarding the personal data breach · University of Copenhagen · official
- University of Copenhagen data breach exposes data of 525,000 people · BleepingComputer · news
- Copenhagen University Breach Compromises Data on Half a Million People · Infosecurity Magazine · news
- Cyberattack on University of Copenhagen exposes data of 525,000 people · Help Net Security · news