When thieves pulled off a lightning-fast heist at the Louvre on October 19, 2025, the world focused on the stolen jewels. But leaked audit reports soon revealed another story — one of weak passwords, legacy systems, and a decade of ignored warnings.
In this episode of Cyberside Chats, Sherri Davidoff and Matt Durrin dig into the cybersecurity lessons behind the Louvre’s seven-minute robbery. They explore how outdated infrastructure, poor vendor oversight, and default credentials mirror the same risks plaguing modern organizations — from hospitals to banks.
Listen as Sherri and Matt connect the dots between a world-famous museum and your own IT environment — and share practical steps to keep your organization from becoming the next headline.
Key Takeaways
- Audit for weak and shared passwords. Regularly scan for shared, default, or vendor credentials. Replace them with strong, unique, role-based passwords and enforce MFA across administrative and vendor accounts.
- Conduct regular penetration tests and track remediation. Perform annual or semiannual pen tests that include internal movement and segmentation checks. Assign owners for every finding, set deadlines, and verify fixes.
- Vet and contractually bind third-party vendors. Require patching and OS update clauses in vendor contracts, and verify each vendor’s security practices through audits or reports such as SOC 2.
- Integrate IT and physical security. Coordinate teams so camera, badge, and alarm systems receive the same cybersecurity oversight as IT systems. Check for remote access exposure and outdated credentials.
- Plan for legacy system containment. Identify unsupported systems, isolate them on segmented networks, and add compensating controls. Build a phased replacement roadmap tied to budget and risk.
- Create a continuous audit and feedback loop. Assign clear ownership for all audit findings and track progress. Escalate unresolved risks to leadership to maintain visibility and accountability.
- Control your media communications. Limit access to sensitive reports and train staff to prevent leaks. Manage breach-related communications strategically to protect reputation and trust.
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Resources
Libération / CheckNews – “Louvre as a password, outdated software, impossible updates…” (Nov. 1, 2025)
CNET – “You probably have a better password than the Louvre did — learn from its mistake.” (Nov. 2025)
YouTube – Hank Green interviews Sherri Davidoff on the Louvre Heist
LMG Security – “How Hackers Turned Cameras into Crypto Miners” (Scientific American)
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