23andMe, the business predicated on people sending cheek swabs to have their DNA analyzed, exposed the personal data of half of customers in a data breach a couple years ago. The company filed for bankruptcy. Lily Jamali for BBC reports:
Founded in 2006, the company went public in 2021 but has never turned a profit.
In September, the firm settled a lawsuit alleging that it failed to protect the privacy of nearly seven million customers whose personal information was exposed in a 2023 data breach.
In some cases, hackers gained access to family trees, birth years and geographic locations, by using customers’ old passwords. The data stolen did not include DNA records, according to the company.
If you used the service, maybe keep an eye on what happens to your data if the company goes under or is sold off. The California attorney general issued a customer alert with instructions on how delete your data, destroy your sample, and revoke data permissions.
