NEW YORK (TURKISH JOURNAL) – Dilek Kaya – 23andMe, a San Francisco-based company that provides direct-to-consumer genetic testing services, reported that some user data was stolen on October 5, 2023, while Ashkenazi Jews were targeted.
According to the company, the attack did not result in access to the DNA information of the individuals, but their photos, names and geographical locations were compromised.
While the company said in a statement that its systems had not been breached and that users’ genetic data was secure, it said it had detected unauthorized access to some customer accounts.
Hackers infiltrated the company’s servers and accessed sensitive data of thousands of people.
According to BleepingComputer, the attack stole 1 million lines of data on Ashkenazi Jews. Although genetic data is not among the data sold in packages on the black market, it is reported that people’s secret relatives and disease susceptibility data may have been stolen.
Some of the Jewish-Americans whose credentials were stolen confirmed to Turkish Journal that their identities and addresses had been stolen, and said they had received threatening messages about the nearly week-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The hackers allegedly targeted Ashkenazi Jews and threatened to use the data sold for anti-Semitic purposes.
The incident has once again raised concerns about the data privacy and security of 23andMe, which has been criticized for not living up to its commitments on data privacy and security.
