TECH NEWS – We can’t imagine how they handled the case so poorly, ultimately creating such a big mess.

After the October 18 robbery at the Louvre, during which $102 million worth of crown jewels were stolen in broad daylight, the mystery surrounding the criminals was solved. During their escape, the suspects dropped a crown and tried to set fire to the mechanical lift as a diversionary tactic, but they were unsuccessful. According to the French newspaper Libération, the theft is not as unusual as we might think. The Louvre has suffered from security and IT vulnerabilities for over a decade.

Cass Marshall, co-founder of Rogue and former chief prankster at Polygon, noted on Bluesky that we owe many game designers an apology. For years, we mocked game characters for leaving important security codes and safe combinations in plain sight. Meanwhile, the Louvre used the password “Louvre” for its video surveillance servers. Confidential documents reviewed by Libération detail the Louvre’s long history of security vulnerabilities, dating back to a 2014 cybersecurity audit conducted by the French cybersecurity agency (ANSSI) at the museum’s request.

ANSSI experts were able to penetrate the Louvre’s security network, manipulate video surveillance, and modify access to entry cards. How did the experts manage to penetrate the network? Primarily thanks to trivial passwords. Entering “LOUVRE” provided access to the server that managed the museum’s video surveillance system, and entering “THALES” provided access to a software program issued by Thales. In 2015, the museum requested another audit from the French National Institute for Security and Justice.

Two years later, their 40-page report revealed serious shortcomings: poorly managed visitor traffic, easily accessible roofs during construction, and outdated, poorly functioning security systems. Subsequent documents show that, as of 2025, the Louvre was still using security software purchased in 2003. This software was no longer supported by the developer and ran on Windows Server 2003 hardware.

If the protection of the French crown jewels is two decades out of date, perhaps we can afford to take hacking mini-games, sticky notes with passwords, and easily stolen key cards less seriously.

Source: PCGamer, Libération, Bsky