An SEC filing has revealed extra particulars on a data breach affecting 23andMe users that was disclosed earlier this fall. The corporate says its investigation discovered hackers have been capable of entry the accounts of roughly 0.1 % of its userbase, or about 14,000 of its 14 million complete clients, TechCrunch notes. On high of that, the attackers have been capable of exploit 23andMe’s opt-in DNA Family (DNAR) function, which matches customers with their genetic family members, to entry details about hundreds of thousands of different customers. A 23andMe spokesperson advised Engadget that hackers accessed the DNAR profiles of roughly 5.5 million clients this fashion, plus Household Tree profile data from 1.4 million DNA Relative contributors.
DNAR Profiles comprise delicate particulars together with self-reported data like show names and areas, in addition to shared DNA percentages for DNA Family matches, household names, predicted relationships and ancestry studies. Household Tree profiles comprise show names and relationship labels, plus different data {that a} consumer could select so as to add, together with start yr and site. When the breach was first revealed in October, the corporate mentioned its investigation “discovered that no genetic testing outcomes have been leaked.”
In accordance with the brand new submitting, the info “typically included ancestry data, and, for a subset of these accounts, health-related data primarily based upon the consumer’s genetics.” All of this was obtained by means of a credential-stuffing assault, during which hackers used login data from different, beforehand compromised web sites to entry these customers’ accounts on different websites. In doing this, the submitting says, “the risk actor additionally accessed a major variety of information containing profile details about different customers’ ancestry that such customers selected to share when opting in to 23andMe’s DNA Family function and posted sure data on-line.”
Following the invention of the breach, 23andMe instructed affected customers to alter their passwords and later rolled out two-factor authentication for all of its clients. In one other replace on Friday, 23andMe mentioned it had accomplished the investigation and is notifying everybody who was affected. The corporate additionally wrote within the submitting that it “believes that the risk actor exercise is contained,” and is working to have the publicly-posted data taken down.
Replace, December 2 2023, 7:03PM ET: This story has been up to date to incorporate data supplied by a 23andMe spokesperson on the scope of the breach and the variety of DNA Relative contributors affected.
This text initially appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/23andme-hackers-accessed-ancestry-information-from-thousands-of-customers-and-their-dna-relatives-205758731.html?src=rss
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