23andMe user data leaked and put up for sale online by hackers
If you’ve ever used 23andMe to find out about your family ancestry, your information could have been affected by a recent data leak.
Anonymous hackers have leaked close to one million 23andMe users’ data and put it up for sale online, according to several reports.
NBC News has viewed the list of 999,999 people who have supposedly used the genetic test kit company that was shared on dark web forums. The list includes their first and last name, sex, and the results of where their ancestors came from.
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Both Wired and NBC News found that the database, which is titled “ashkenazi DNA Data of Celebrities” targets those with Ashkenazi Jewish heritage. Most of the people on the list are apparently not famous.
“Crazy, this could be used by Nazis,” one person who appears in the database said, according to NBC News.
In an email statement to Daily Hive, 23andMe confirmed the data leak, but says their systems weren’t necessarily hacked.
“We do not have any indication at this time that there has been a data security incident within our systems,” said the spokesperson.
“Rather, the preliminary results of this investigation suggest that the login credentials used in these access attempts may have been gathered by a threat actor from data leaked during incidents involving other online platforms where users have recycled login credentials.”
The company says it believes that bad actors may have then accessed 23andMe accounts without authorization and obtained information from those accounts.
It advises customers to keep their accounts and passwords secure by taking the following steps:
- Confirm you have a strong password, one that is not easy to guess and that is unique to your account. If you are not sure whether you have a strong password for your account, reset it by following the steps outlined here.
- Be sure to enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) on your account. You can enable MFA by following the steps outlined here.
- Review its Privacy and Security Checkup page with additional information on how to keep your account secure.
You can also contact the company’s customer care through email at [email protected] if you need further assistance.
The investigation surrounding this data leak is ongoing.
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