A group of hackers on the website BreachForums have recently targeted the genealogy testing company 23andMe, stealing user data primarily from two specific groups: people of Jewish descent and people of Chinese descent.
The stolen data focused mainly on one subset of the Jewish diaspora known as Ashkenazi Jews, who migrated from Central and Eastern Europe to the Western Hemisphere.
Last Friday, 23andMe confirmed that data had been compromised but clarified that their systems had not been breached. They suspect that threat actors accessed certain accounts because users recycled login credentials, meaning they used the same usernames and passwords on 23andMe.com as on other websites that had been previously hacked.
About one million users of Ashkenazi Jewish descent and hundreds of thousands of people of Chinese descent were affected by the hacking, according to reports.
The hackers are now attempting to sell the stolen data, with prices ranging from $1,000 for 100 profiles to $100,000 for 100,000 profiles. The collection of hacked user data has been titled “Ashkenazi DNA Data of Celebrities,” although the majority of the profiles are not actually of celebrities.
One individual commented on the situation, expressing concern that the data could potentially be used by Nazis.
Unique Perspective: The theft and sale of personal information is a serious issue that can have significant consequences for individuals. It is important for companies to prioritize the security of their users’ data and take proactive measures to prevent such breaches. In addition, users must be cautious about reusing login credentials across multiple websites, as this can make them more vulnerable to hacking.
