Genetic testing firm 23andMe has admitted that hackers accessed sensitive data on 6.9 million people – or 50 percent of its users.
The mammoth breach is the result of digital spies using old passwords to break into files belonging to 0.1 percent of customers – some 14,000 profiles – which are linked to millions more through ancestry tracing.
On Friday, 23andMe admitted in a Securities and Exchange Commission disclosure that overall, a ‘significant number’ of files ‘containing profile information about other users’ ancestry’ had been stolen.
The California-based company, which is a market-leader in the $17 billion genetic testing industry, later told TechCrunch that this amounted to around half of its 14 million users.
It highlights how the explosion in popularity of at-home DNA testing kits which have led to hundreds of Americans uncovering shocking family secrets, could come with unexpected consequences.
Hellbound and Down 