The cyberattack gathered profile and ethnicity information from millions of users. 23andme tests users' genetic makeup by having them spit in a tube and processing their dna The company sorts people into dozens of types of human populations and tells them which ones. At least a million data points from 23andme accounts appear to have been exposed on breachforums While the scale of the campaign is unknown, 23andme says it's working to verify the data. It has now been confirmed that an additional 6.9 million 23andme users had ancestry data stolen after hackers accessed thousands of accounts by likely reusing previously leaked passwords
Erman ayday, an expert in genomic data privacy at case western reserve university, us, told dw these data leaks show how the genetic data from 23andme's customers could be used in nefarious cases. 23andme confirms hackers stole dna relatives data for 6.9 million users after using a credential stuffing attack to access several thousand accounts directly. The breach also opened the door to millions of other profiles of customers — about half of all 23andme customers — who wanted to use 23andme to connect with those who had close dna matches. Some 6.9 million 23andme customers had their data compromised after an anonymous hacker accessed user profiles and posted them for sale on the internet earlier this year, the company said on. The genetic testing company 23andme — which allows users to spit in a tube and send away the sample for a detailed dna analysis — is filing for bankruptcy 23andme has faced financial hardship.
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