23andMe Confirm Hackers Have Access To Data On 6.9M Users

Hackers have got access and stole personal data belonging to 6.9 million people who used services from the genetic testing company 23andMe first reported in October. Now, the company has disclosed, that by accessing those accounts, hackers were also able to access “a significant number of files containing profile information about other users’ ancestry.” 

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.

As proof that they stole the personal data, hackers published an initial sample of 1 million data points about users with Ashkenazi Jewish heritage, including people’s full names, birth years, location information and more. They also reportedly published a separate sample with information about more than 300,000 users with Chinese heritage.

The hackers gained access to some customer accounts through reused passwords and then were able to access 14,000 accounts, less than 0.1 per cent of the user base, using these usernames and passwords that had previously been leaked. Using this, the hackers were able to access information from millions more accounts through 23andMe’s DNA Relatives and Family Tree features, which allow users to share information with other users they are genetically linked to.

23andMe has not disclosed how many “other users” were impacted by the breach that was originally disclosed in October.  However, there were a lot of “other users” who were victims of this data breach and at least 6.9 million individuals were affected in total.

23andMe has confirmed that another group of about 1.4 million people who opted-in to DNA Relatives also “had their Family Tree profile information accessed,” which includes display names, relationship labels, birth year, self-reported location and whether the user decided to share their information, the spokesperson said. 

Because of the way that the DNA Relatives feature matches users with their relatives, by hacking into one individual account, the hackers were able to see the personal data of both the account holder as well as their relatives, which magnified the total number of 23andMe victims.

23andMe:     NBC:    KIRO 7:     Global News:    Program Business:    Techcrunch:     Image: Unspalsh

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