The stolen data includes names, relationship information, dates of birth, locations, photos, addresses, etc.
Hackers gained access to the personal data of almost 6.9 million clients of the American company 23andMe, which provides services for determining a person’s genealogy and determining his health status based on DNA analysis. The Guardian reported this.
Initially, hackers obtained the personal data of about 14 thousand of the company’s clients. To do this, they used emails and passwords obtained after hacking other sites. Subsequently, the attackers also took the data of users who enabled the “DNA relatives” function. Thanks to it, you can compare the genetic profiles of different 23andMe customers. In this way, they obtained the personal information of 6.9 million users – that’s almost half of all registered customers of 23andMe.
The stolen data includes names, relationship information, dates of birth, locations, photos, addresses, etc.
Advertisements offering to buy stolen 23andMe customer data reportedly began appearing on hacker forums in October. Their value ranges from 1 to 10 dollars. Later, the hackers released information that among the stolen data was information about several “wealthy people in the United States and Western Europe.”
In reporting the hack, the company said it may have been caused by customers reusing passwords that had already been compromised.
According to digital fraud researcher Ronnie Tokazowski, “It boils down to people reusing their passwords – that’s what makes hacking possible.”
It was previously reported that during the hacker attack on the US State Department, 60 thousand emails were stolen.
Recall that hackers gained access to the computer system of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
Source: korrespondent
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.