The Inevitable Insider; From the French Revolution to the 2025 Louvre robbery

“What a pity, I am not an honest man”  Maurice Leblanc,  Arsène Lupin, Gentleman-Thief  

In October 2025, the world awoke to the audacious news that the French Crown Jewels, symbols of monarchy long since dethroned, had been stolen from their display at the Louvre Museum. The public reaction was a mix of disbelief, fascination, and an odd sense of irony- how can a republic lose its crown?  

As a security advisor who studies insider risk, I could not help but view this not as an anomaly but as a historical echo. Because if there is one thing history teaches us, it is this: every revolution, every coup, and every great crime has its insider.  

Irony at the heart of the Republic  

The French Republic, which famously guillotined the monarchy in the late 18th century, has spent centuries wrestling with its own symbols. The Crown Jewels of France, once emblems of divine right and Bourbon excess, are now preserved by the Republic as cultural heritage. In essence, the Republic became the curator of its own rebellion’s trophies.  

But there’s a poetic irony here- even as France dismantled its monarchy through revolution, it did so with the help of insiders. The revolution was not driven purely by the sans-culottes on the streets. It was fuelled by royal courtiers disillusioned with the crown, officers within the military, and administrators of the Ancien Régime who quietly, and sometimes eagerly, helped dismantle the very system that employed them.  

The fall of the Bastille? Enabled by soldiers who turned their weapons around.  
The storming of Versailles? Guided by palace servants who knew the corridors.  
The execution of Louis XVI? Made possible by a bureaucracy that quietly rebranded loyalty under a new letterhead- La République.  

In other words, even revolution, the ultimate act of rebellion, was an inside job.  

Fast forward to the Louvre, 2025  

Now, two centuries later, the Louvre finds itself at the centre of a very modern rebellion. In this case, preliminary investigations (real or imagined for the sake of our discussion) suggest an inside actor - an employee or contractor with privileged access, perhaps subtly manipulated through compromise, financial incentive, or ideological persuasion.  

And yet, this is not surprising. The modern insider threat is the logical descendant of those 18th-century courtiers and guards. The tools have evolved - phishing emails have replaced pamphlets, USB drives have replaced daggers, but the psychology is timeless.  

Insiders are, and have always been, the bridge between the impenetrable and the penetrated.  

Historical constant and the Republic’s paradox  

The great betrayals of history are seldom achieved from the outside, just ask Odysseus- the Trojan Horse, mythology’s original supply-chain third-party compromise, only worked because the gates were opened from within.  

And now, the Louvre of 2025 (real or speculative) reminds us that human trust remains the most porous perimeter. We can layer AI-driven anomaly detection, biometric locks, and zero-trust architectures, but ultimately, trust remains the most relevant factor.  

There’s an exquisite symmetry in the fact that the French Republic, born from insiders dismantling the monarchy, now faces its own internal vulnerabilities. The institutional insider is both the Republic’s creator and its perpetual threat.  

If the monarchy was undone by palace insiders, and if the 2025 Louvre robbery was enabled by museum insiders, then perhaps this is not a failure, but a pattern. The insider is not a security exception; the insider is the human condition of power.  

Every system, political or technical, is only as loyal as the people within it.  

Lessons from the Louvre  

As security professionals, the temptation is always to respond to breaches with more control- more surveillance, more audits, more automation. Yet, history cautions us that control without culture only breeds better-concealed betrayal.  

The French Revolution did not fail because of insiders; it succeeded because they believed in a cause greater than their employers. In the same vein, organisations today must not merely detect insiders; they must understand them, engage them, and align them.  

Because if history echoes, and it always does, then the insider will remain inevitable. The only question is whether they are working with you or against you.  

Conclusion- The Insider as the mirror  

Perhaps the most disquieting thought is this: the insider isn’t just someone else. It’s a mirror of our systems, our ethics, and our blind spots.  

From the royal courts of Versailles to the glass pyramids of the Louvre, the architecture has changed, but the psychology has not. Trust will always be the most beautiful vulnerability of any human enterprise.  

So, as we marvel (and cringe) at the Louvre incident, let us remember- France has seen this before. The Republic was born from insiders. Perhaps it’s only fitting that its treasures should once again be moved -not by invaders, but by those who knew the way inside.  

Vive la République. Vive l’Insider!!!