23andMe says it’s looking into another possible data leak

Share via:

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

23andMe is investigating reports of a new data leak involving millions of user records. On Wednesday, TechCrunch reported that a hacker claims to have leaked 4 million genetic profiles belonging to people in Great Britain, along with “the wealthiest people living in the U.S. and Western Europe.”

The hacker, who goes by “Golem,” is the same one that stole 1 million lines of genetic data from 23andMe earlier this month, according to TechCrunch. Golem posted this latest round of data on the hacking site BreachForums.

Katie Watson, the vice president of communications at 23andMe, tells The Verge the company was “made aware” that the same hacker claims to have leaked another trove of what they claim is customer information. “We are currently reviewing the data to determine if it is legitimate,” Watson says. “Our investigation is ongoing and if we learn that a customer’s data has been accessed without their authorization, we will notify them directly with more information.”

In a blog post published on October 6th, 23andMe confirmed that the data included in the previous leak was legitimate and affected the platform’s DNA Relatives feature, which lets users match with other potential genetic relatives on 23andMe. At the time, 23andMe said it found no sign of a security incident within its systems, adding that the hacker was able to access users’ accounts using “recycled” login credentials that were exposed in other hacks.

This most recent leak involves the DNA Relatives feature as well, potentially enabling the hacker to scrape the information belonging to the relatives that an account has matched with.

Disclaimer

We strive to uphold the highest ethical standards in all of our reporting and coverage. We StartupNews.fyi want to be transparent with our readers about any potential conflicts of interest that may arise in our work. It’s possible that some of the investors we feature may have connections to other businesses, including competitors or companies we write about. However, we want to assure our readers that this will not have any impact on the integrity or impartiality of our reporting. We are committed to delivering accurate, unbiased news and information to our audience, and we will continue to uphold our ethics and principles in all of our work. Thank you for your trust and support.

Popular

More Like this

23andMe says it’s looking into another possible data leak

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

23andMe is investigating reports of a new data leak involving millions of user records. On Wednesday, TechCrunch reported that a hacker claims to have leaked 4 million genetic profiles belonging to people in Great Britain, along with “the wealthiest people living in the U.S. and Western Europe.”

The hacker, who goes by “Golem,” is the same one that stole 1 million lines of genetic data from 23andMe earlier this month, according to TechCrunch. Golem posted this latest round of data on the hacking site BreachForums.

Katie Watson, the vice president of communications at 23andMe, tells The Verge the company was “made aware” that the same hacker claims to have leaked another trove of what they claim is customer information. “We are currently reviewing the data to determine if it is legitimate,” Watson says. “Our investigation is ongoing and if we learn that a customer’s data has been accessed without their authorization, we will notify them directly with more information.”

In a blog post published on October 6th, 23andMe confirmed that the data included in the previous leak was legitimate and affected the platform’s DNA Relatives feature, which lets users match with other potential genetic relatives on 23andMe. At the time, 23andMe said it found no sign of a security incident within its systems, adding that the hacker was able to access users’ accounts using “recycled” login credentials that were exposed in other hacks.

This most recent leak involves the DNA Relatives feature as well, potentially enabling the hacker to scrape the information belonging to the relatives that an account has matched with.

Disclaimer

We strive to uphold the highest ethical standards in all of our reporting and coverage. We StartupNews.fyi want to be transparent with our readers about any potential conflicts of interest that may arise in our work. It’s possible that some of the investors we feature may have connections to other businesses, including competitors or companies we write about. However, we want to assure our readers that this will not have any impact on the integrity or impartiality of our reporting. We are committed to delivering accurate, unbiased news and information to our audience, and we will continue to uphold our ethics and principles in all of our work. Thank you for your trust and support.

Website Upgradation is going on for any glitch kindly connect at office@startupnews.fyi

More like this

boAT Onboards Three Bankers For $300-500 Mn IPO

SUMMARY As per ET, the company has onboarded ICICI...

Talent Acquisition in GCCs: Talent-hungry GCCs fish for professionals...

Global capability centres (GCCs) of foreign companies expanding...

Titanium iPhone vs steel weight difference

Brought to you by Uniq: Uniq’s new FlexGrip™...

Popular

Upcoming Events

Startup Information that matters. Get in your inbox Daily!