Journalism of Courage
When thieves broke into the Louvre in Paris last month and made off with $102 million worth of jewels, they didn’t just expose a hole in France’s most famous museum, they laid bare a shocking lapse in its digital defences.
At the time of the brazen seven-minute robbery, the password protecting the Louvre’s video surveillance system was simply “Louvre,” a museum employee has revealed, ABC reported.
The revelation comes as French lawmakers press the museum’s leadership for answers over how one of the world’s most secure cultural landmarks was breached so easily.
Testifying before a French Senate committee, Louvre president and director Laurence des Cars admitted that the museum’s alarm and camera systems were functional but described a “weakness in the perimeter security due to underinvestment.”
She said only one external camera had been installed outside the Apollo Gallery, the room housing the stolen French crown jewels, and it faced west, missing the very window through which the thieves entered and escaped using a truck-mounted mechanical cherry picker.
“The security system, as installed in the Apollo Gallery, worked perfectly,” des Cars told lawmakers, ABC reported. “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.”
Still, des Cars acknowledged what she called a “terrible failure at the Louvre,” saying that improving the museum’s security had been one of her top priorities since taking office in 2021. “I was appalled by the museum’s security situation when I arrived,” she said.
French prosecutors say the entire operation — from break-in to getaway — lasted barely seven minutes. Yet despite the arrests of four suspects, none of the missing jewels have been recovered.
Paris public prosecutor Laure Beccuau told Franceinfo radio that “all avenues are being explored” in the ongoing investigation. She as per ABC confirmed that the four people in custody — a taxi driver, 39; a garbage collector and delivery worker, 34; a 37-year-old man; and his 38-year-old domestic partner — are not linked to organised crime networks.
Their DNA was reportedly found at the scene. Two of the suspects have “partially admitted their involvement,” Beccuau said, adding that one of them was detained at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport as he tried to board a one-way flight to Algeria.
The arrests, prosecutors say, have led to new searches and the seizure of additional objects now being examined by investigators. However, “at least one person” involved in the heist remains at large.
The Apollo Gallery — famed for housing the French crown jewels and some of the Louvre’s most prized treasures — has remained closed since the October robbery. For now, the missing gems, the museum’s security reputation, and a lingering sense of national embarrassment all remain out of sight.
