In the USA, hackers stole the DNA data of almost 7 million people
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The American company 23andMe, which conducts genetic testing, announced a large-scale data leak. Personal information of almost 6.9 million of its customers got into the hands of hackers.
According to The Guardian, 23andMe provides services for determining a person’s genealogy and determines the state of his health based on DNA analysis.
Initially, hackers obtained the personal data of about 14,000 of its customers. For this, they used e-mails and passwords obtained through hacking other sites.
Later, the attackers also took over the data of users who had the “DNA relatives” function enabled. Thanks to it, you can compare the genetic profiles of different 23andMe customers. In this way, they obtained the personal information of 6.9 million users, which is almost half of all registered 23andMe customers.
| Hackers stole the genetic information of almost 7 million people. Photo: y.nasx/Depositphotos |
Among the stolen data are names, information about family ties, date of birth, places of stay, photos, addresses, etc.
Ads offering to buy stolen 23andMe customer data began appearing on hacking forums back in October. Their cost ranged from $1 to $10.
The hackers later released information that the stolen data included information about some of the “wealthiest people in the United States and Western Europe.”
When first reporting the breach, the company said it may have been caused by customers reusing passwords that had already been compromised.
“It all boils down to people reusing their passwords – that’s what makes hacking possible,” says digital fraud researcher Ronnie Tokazowski.
It will be recalled that hackers disabled 2 of the most modern telescopes in the world.
Read also: Tracing relatives to the 17th century: what you should know about genetic tests and how to correctly interpret the results
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