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When The Threat Comes From Within
Lessons from the Louvre Heist
Spencer Coursen
October 27, 2025
“Insider threats are always a greater concern than outside actors.” — Spencer Coursen
What Happened
In Paris last week, four thieves pulled off a lightning-fast heist inside the Louvre Museum, escaping in under five minutes with eight pieces of the French Crown Jewels. Investigators now believe it was an inside job, with at least one security guard suspected of tipping off the thieves about blind spots and timing.
It’s a story that echoes a key theme from The Safety Trap: the greatest risks often come from those we already trust.
Sources: Google Earth via Paris prosecutor; @NYTimes
Insider threats are rarely about villains sneaking in from the outside. They are trusted people who misuse legitimate access, such as employees, vendors, or even family members. Because they are familiar with the systems, schedules, and weaknesses, they can exploit them more effectively than any outsider ever could.
Security professionals often focus on perimeter protection, including locked doors, cameras, and alarms. But as the Louvre heist shows, all of that fails if the threat is already inside.
The museum had surveillance and guards, but one unmonitored window was all it took. Leadership later admitted the theft “was not inevitable,” a quiet confession that overconfidence, or hubris, may have been their undoing.
What This Means for You
Whether you run a company, manage a school, or protect your family, the same lesson applies.
Trust must be verified. Review who has access and why.
Test assumptions. Do not mistake familiarity for security.
Watch the insiders. Unusual behavior, unsupervised access, or casual workarounds deserve a second look.
Bottom Line
“It’s not what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you think you know for sure that just ain’t so.”
The Louvre did not lose its jewels because of what it didn’t know. It lost them because it thought it knew its people, its systems, and its security.
True safety is not about suspicion. It is about awareness, accountability, and the humility to admit that even those inside the circle can pose a risk.
Five Protective Strategies You Can Employ Today:
1. Trust But Verify
Just because someone is in a trusted role (staff, contractor, vendor, museum guard, security-staffer) doesn’t mean they’re beyond risk.
2. Audit With Honesty
Ask the tough questions. Who has access? When? Under what oversight? Are there “quiet” routes in or blind spots where no one watches?
3. Challenge Assumption
Your systems were built for the visible threat — someone picking a lock, scaling a fence, breaking a window. But what if the window is opened from the inside, or the lock left unlocked because “that always happens”?
4. Watch For Routine Blindness
Overconfidence creates vulnerability. Challenge habits, question “that’s how we’ve always done it,” and test assumptions.
5. Create Layers of Oversight
Dual-authentication, access logs, and peer accountability reduce the chance that one person’s actions go unchecked.
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Live Smart. Stay Safe.
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