As our world becomes increasingly connected, passwords have become the primary line of defense against malicious actors. However, many companies and businesses still haven’t realized that a system designed twenty-plus years ago isn’t up to the tasks today, resulting in more damage than they thought possible.
The Louvre Museum heist captured the world's attention. Thanks to some inside knowledge, millions of dollars in French aristocratic jewelry was stolen and presumably destroyed so they could be sold to nefarious buyers all over the world. They were eventually caught and charged but the many security risks that were present at the museum were staggering. Missing windows, lack of cameras and renovations were all part of a damning report regarding its artwork security. An audit from 2018-2024 revealed that they prioritized attractive operations" like buying new pieces of art and improving visitors’ experience. That was "at the expense of the maintenance and renovation of buildings and technical installations, particularly safety and security systems," (1)
The most egregious form of their security breakdown was their passwords or rather lack of passwords. In most systems, a complex password system is in place to protect vulnerable data from being compromised. In the case of the Louvre, it could not be further from the truth. In the post incident review, it was revealed that the forensics team could get into the system with a simple password, the password being Louvre and Thales, the latter being a software company that worked on the programing for said security. (2)
Passwords are the gateway to any program or website. When you sign up, you're expected to make one, with some even creating a multifactor authentication key. According to Hive security systems, a cybersecurity monitoring service there is a correlation between length and complexity of passwords and how fast hackers can guess your password. Shorter passwords can be guessed instantly, and longer ones can be just as fast if they aren’t complex. Most websites will ask for at least Upper- and Lower-case letters and numbers. Some have gone an extra step requiring symbols. All have a minimum length of at least 8 characters. “The shorter your password, the less time it’ll take to crack. And if you exclusively use one variety of characters, such as numbers, this makes your password significantly less secure – variety is also important.
Another factor that affects password hacking is whether the hacker targeting you have a tool that can automate password-cracking methods, such as brute-forcing (more on this later). Of course, this isn’t a factor within the user’s control, but it reinforces the importance of making your password strong and complex. (3)
Passwords aren’t the only thing that can make or break a security system. Being able to update your systems via regular operating systems patches is important too. Most OS’s run the latest hardware and will get regular patches. When a particular system loses that support, it means they are no longer keeping up with security patches. These are called legacy systems, and many companies still rely on these old networks due to a variety of reasons.
The Louvre was one such organization. “The museum was still running Windows 2000 on its office automation network when the French National Agency for the Security of Information Systems (ANSSI) conducted its 2014 audit, the newspaper reported — although Microsoft had stopped providing security updates for that version of its operating system three years earlier, in July 2010.”(4) Their system, which was state-of-the-art for 2003, was not only two decades out of date, but they had put off Windows security updates for several years. This flaw is not just a Louvre problem. Most systems used by big companies are run on these types of systems, with varying ages, many dating back to at least 2010.
To understand the Louvre heist is to understand the folly of having inadequate security measures in 2025, despite all the high-profile breaches and hacks that have happened in the last 5 to 10 years. Password security is paramount to any system and one of the simplest ways to protect yourself. In addition, legacy systems are just as dangerous as their support has long since expired. Modern systems will continue to support systems for years but will not work unless you keep updating your patches. The Louvre heist was big news but not just for the artwork stolen, but for the glaring holes in its cybersecurity.
