The Louvre surveillance system password was 'LOUVRE'

Jessica Schladebeck, New York Daily News on Nov 6, 2025

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The Louvre had an alarmingly weak password for its security surveillance system when it was hit by a group thieves, who made off with more than $100 million in jewels.

The brazen daylight heist took place on Oct. 18, triggering a massive investigation that has since revealed the suspects used power tools to bust through the second-floor window of the Apollo Gallery around 9 a.m. The entire operation took under seven minutes, and none of the robbers were at anytime captured by the lone security camera outside the gallery.

During testimony before a French Senate committee last month, Laurence des Cars, the president and director of the Louvre, said the camera had been facing west and did not cover the window the thieves used to gain access to Paris’ most popular museum.

“The security system, as installed in the Apollo Gallery, worked perfectly,” he said, per ABC News. “The question that arises is how to adapt this system to a new type of attack and modus operandi that we could not have foreseen.”

Despite touting its functionality, France’s National Cybersecurity Agency was able to access a server managing the museum’s video surveillance by cracking its ridiculously simple password: “LOUVRE,” according to confidential documents obtained by Libération. The eponymous password was initially uncovered by the agency during an audit in 2014. Additional audits revealed “serious shortcomings” in the museum’s security systems, including the use of 20-year-old software.

So far, seven people have been arrested in connection with the heist, two of whom have partially admitted their involvement.

An investigation into the matter is ongoing, and the stolen jewels remain missing weeks later.