It turns out that the iconic Louvre Museum's biggest vulnerability wasn't the glass or the guards but the password that it used for securing its core systems. The museum's digital security system was shielded by a single, laughably simple word: "LOUVRE".
Billionaire Elon Musk reacted to the news with a "wow" on X.
The revelation came weeks after a daring $102 million daylight heist in the Paris museum. Four thieves used a moving lift to reach a first-floor gallery in broad daylight, cutting through glass and escaping with priceless jewels, including pieces once owned by Napoleon's family, all within seven minutes.
Now, the revelation that the world's most famous museum, housing historical artefacts like the Mona Lisa, relied on such a weak password has left the public incredulous.
A user wrote on X, “If you feel like you're bad at your job and it's making you depressed, just consider that, as the investigation of the recent heist revealed, the password to access the Louvre's video surveillance system was ‘Louvre'.”
Another wrote, “If you ever have imposter syndrome, just remember that the security password for The Louvre was ‘louvre'.”
“Next time you doubt your competence, remember even the Louvre protected priceless art with the password ‘Louvre.' Sometimes the system, not the worker, is what's broken,” a comment read.
Someone wrote, "At that moment when the technician had to pick a password and thought, ‘I'll just set it to 'Louvre' for now, it's easy to remember. I'll tell them to change it later', he probably imagined they'd switch to something like ‘Louvre123' What he didn't expect was that they'd never change it at all. After all, there was zero incentive to make it more complex - forgetting it would've caused more trouble than keeping the bad one.”
A comment read, “Every website I've ever seen: password must be at least 15 characters long, contains a special character, doesn't contain your uncle's college roommate's name, and has the symbol of Ra. The Louvre: Louvre.”
A user wrote, “I mean, in terms of lazy passwords that's right up there with having Password as your password. I bet they couldn't believe their luck. ‘Hey try Louvre.' ‘There's no way that will work, they aren't that stupid....oh turns out they are.'”
Another wrote, “The entire Louvre security camera system was protected by the password ‘Louvre'. This has to be a joke, right?”
Authorities have arrested several suspects since the heist, some of whom are known to police for previous thefts. French investigators believe the October 19 robbery may have been carried out on commission for a private collector.
