A hacker leaked an additional 4.1 million stolen 23andMe genetic profiles of people from Great Britain and Germanyto a hacker forum.
See also: 23andMe: Hacker has stolen users' genetic information
Earlier this month, a malicious actor leaked the stolen data of a million Jews who used services to find information about their ancestry and genetic predispositions.
23andMe said the data was obtained through credential stuffing on accounts that used weak passwords or credentials that were exposed in other data breaches. However, the company says there is no evidence of a breach in its systems. The company says only a limited number of accounts were compromised, which had opted into the “DNA Relatives” feature, allowing the attacker to gather data on millions of people.
Yesterday, a hacker named ' Golem ', who is believed to be behind the 23andMe attacks , leaked an additional 4.1 million data profiles of people from the UK and Germany to the hacking forum BreachForums . This additional leak includes 4,011,607 lines of 23andMe data for people living in the UK. The attackers threaten that the stolen data includes genetic information for the royal family, the Rothschilds and the Rockefellers.
The same hacker published an additional CSV file containing 23andMe data for 139,172 people living in Germany. As reported by TechCrunch, some of the recently leaked data from Great Britain has been verified to match known and public information as well as genetic information.
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According to a report by TechCrunch, some of the leaked 23andMe data was being sold in August 2023 on the now-closed Hydra, where the malicious actor claimed to have stolen 300 terabytes of data. The hacker claims on BreachForums that he has “hundreds of TBs of data” in his possession, possibly suggesting that this is the same stolen data.
With the volume of information allegedly stolen, we're likely to continue to see further data breaches as the perpetrator tries to generate enough interest to find a buyer. Although 23andMe says only a handful of customer accounts were compromised, the "DNA Relatives" feature turned this breach into a significantly larger data breach.
These leaks have already led to countless lawsuits against 23andMe, which claim that there is a lack of information regarding the breach and that the company did not adequately protect its customers' data.
Globally, the issue of the use or possible abuse of stolen genetic data that was breached by a hacker is a source of concern.
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A possible misuse of the data leaked from 23andMe includes the hacker's involvement in the following activities:
- Illegal change of identity information: Using the information provided by genetic data, the hacker can create false identities or modify existing ones.
- Black market for genetic data: Genetic data can be sold at high prices on the black market, where interested buyers can use it for defamatory purposes or personal attacks.
- Privacy threats: As genetic data contains information about heredity, health , and other personal characteristics, the hacker can use this information to harass or intimidate victims.
Even though the above scenarios may seem frightening, it is important to note that it has not yet been confirmed how exactly the hacker intends to use the data. However, it is evident that the possible impacts are malicious and have the potential to negatively affect people's lives.
Source: bleepingcomputer
