You might’ve heard the Louvre, the most famous art museum on Earth, was robbed, and in a way that was riddled with cinematic clichés. Some suspects have been arrested, while others are still on the loose. The thieves made off with $102 million in crown jewels, and all in less than eight minutes, during museum operating hours, in full view of tourists, before making their daring escape on some of the scooters. The whole thing is just a silly joke — a joke that gets even funnier when you find out the Louvre’s video surveillance password.
According to French newspaper Libération, the museum’s video surveillance password was literally “Louvre.”
France’s national cybersecurity agency (ANSSI) conducted a 2014 audit that found the museum’s networks were riddled with “trivial” passwords and outdated systems. One password, “THALES,” matched the name of the company that developed the software. ANSSI’s experts were able to infiltrate the security system, manipulate camera feeds, and even modify staff badge access without much trouble.
A follow-up audit in 2015, whose findings were quietly shelved, described “serious shortcomings” including faulty visitor management, open rooftop access during renovations, and software so old it should’ve been in a museum exhibit of its own.
Ten years later, in 2025, much of that same infrastructure was reportedly still in use, running on Windows Server 2003, which Microsoft stopped supporting over a decade ago.
The four suspects in high-visibility vests rolled up in a truck with a mechanical ladder, used power tools to break into the second-floor gallery, and vanished into Paris traffic minutes later, when all they had to do with type the museum’s own name to gain access to the museum security system.
So yes, there is a way the Louvre heist could have been even dumber.
The post Louvre Heist Fallout Reveals Museum’s Video Security Password Was ‘Louvre’ appeared first on VICE.
