|
After a hacker advertised millions of "pieces of data" stolen
from 23andMe on an online forum this month, the company had said
it was working with federal law enforcement and forensic experts
to investigate it.
In the new emails, a copy of which was seen by Reuters, 23andMe
told customers there was a breach of one or more accounts
connected to theirs through the "DNA Relatives" feature. That
feature allows users around the world to connect and share their
personal data including relationship labels, ancestry reports
and matching DNA segments, location, birth year and family
names, among other things.
"There was unauthorized access to one or more 23andMe accounts
that were connected to you through DNA Relatives," the company
told customers in the email on Tuesday. "As a result, the DNA
Relatives profile information you provided in this feature was
exposed to the threat actor."
23andMe provides DNA testing that helps users learn more about
their ancestry. Since news of the hack, many customers have
expressed worries their ethnicity and other sensitive
information could be used against them if leaked. A U.S.
lawmaker last week sought more detail on the leaks.
Several users on social media on Tuesday said they got the
email, but it was unclear how many customers had been informed.
23andMe spokeswoman Katie Watson declined to comment, citing its
ongoing probe, and referred to the blog where the company said
on Oct. 20 that it was temporarily disabling features in the
"DNA Relatives" to protect user privacy.
Earlier, the company had said hackers may have used credentials
leaked from other websites to breach 23andMe accounts - a
technique known as 'credential stuffing'. It advised users
change their login information and enable two-factor
authentication to prevent compromise.
(Additional reporting by Alexandra Ulmer in San Francisco;
Editing by David Gregorio)
[© 2023 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2022 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
|
|
