23andMe Confirms Hackers Stole Ancestry Data on 6.9 Million Users
Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai, reporting for TechCrunch:
On Friday, genetic testing company 23andMe announced that hackers
accessed the personal data of 0.1% of customers, or about 14,000
individuals. The company also said that by accessing those
accounts, hackers were also able to access “a significant number
of files containing profile information about other users’
ancestry.” But 23andMe would not say how many “other users” were
impacted by the breach that the company initially disclosed in
early October.
As it turns out, there were a lot of “other users” who were
victims of this data breach: 6.9 million affected individuals
in total.
In an email sent to TechCrunch late on Saturday, 23andMe
spokesperson Katie Watson confirmed that hackers accessed the
personal information of about 5.5 million people who opted-in to
23andMe’s DNA Relatives feature, which allows customers to
automatically share some of their data with others. The stolen
data included the person’s name, birth year, relationship labels,
the percentage of DNA shared with relatives, ancestry reports and
self-reported location.
Here’s a real shocker: 23andMe has updated their terms of service in attempt to prevent a class action lawsuit. Good luck with that.
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Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai, reporting for TechCrunch:
On Friday, genetic testing company 23andMe announced that hackers
accessed the personal data of 0.1% of customers, or about 14,000
individuals. The company also said that by accessing those
accounts, hackers were also able to access “a significant number
of files containing profile information about other users’
ancestry.” But 23andMe would not say how many “other users” were
impacted by the breach that the company initially disclosed in
early October.
As it turns out, there were a lot of “other users” who were
victims of this data breach: 6.9 million affected individuals
in total.
In an email sent to TechCrunch late on Saturday, 23andMe
spokesperson Katie Watson confirmed that hackers accessed the
personal information of about 5.5 million people who opted-in to
23andMe’s DNA Relatives feature, which allows customers to
automatically share some of their data with others. The stolen
data included the person’s name, birth year, relationship labels,
the percentage of DNA shared with relatives, ancestry reports and
self-reported location.
Here’s a real shocker: 23andMe has updated their terms of service in attempt to prevent a class action lawsuit. Good luck with that.