Change 23andMe Passwords! Hackers Leak DNA Profiles of 4M UK Customers

Thousands of Brits who used 23andMe urged to change passwords as 'Golem' leaks 4M genetic profiles.

The genetic testing company 23andMe confirmed on Friday 6th October 2023 that data from a subset of its users has been compromised.

23andMe acknowledged the hack with the following statement:-

We recently learned that certain 23andMe customer profile information that they opted into sharing through our DNA Relatives feature, was compiled from individual 23andMe.com accounts without the account users’ authorization.

After learning of suspicious activity, we immediately began an investigation. While we are continuing to investigate this matter, we believe threat actors were able to access certain accounts in instances where users recycled login credentials – that is, usernames and passwords that were used on 23andMe.com were the same as those used on other websites that have been previously hacked.

We believe that the threat actor may have then, in violation of our Terms of Service, accessed 23andMe.com accounts without authorization and obtained information from certain accounts, including information about users’ DNA Relatives profiles, to the extent a user opted into that service.

Recommendations

We encourage our customers to take as much action to keep their account and password secure. Out of caution, we recommend taking the following steps:

• Confirm you have a strong password, one that is not easy to guess and that is unique to your 23andMe account. If you are not sure whether you have a strong password for your account, reset it by following the steps outlined here.

• Please be sure to enable multi-factor authentication (MFA) on your 23andMe account. You can enable MFA by following the steps outlined here.

• Review our Privacy and Security Checkup page with additional information on how to keep your account secure.

23andMe is here to support you. Please contact Customer Care at customercare@23andme.com if you need assistance with navigating these important steps to protect your account.