UK watchdog fines 23andMe for ‘profoundly damaging’ information breach

DNA testing agency 23andMe has been fined £2.31m by a UK watchdog over a knowledge breach in 2023 which affected 1000’s of individuals.

The Info Commissioner’s Workplace (ICO) mentioned the corporate – which has since filed for chapter – did not put sufficient measures in place to safe delicate consumer information previous to the incident.

“This was a profoundly damaging breach that uncovered delicate private data, household histories, and even well being situations,” mentioned Info Commissioner John Edwards.

23andMe is ready to be offered to a brand new proprietor, TTAM Analysis Institute, which mentioned it had “made a number of binding commitments to boost protections for buyer information and privateness.”

23andMe’s customers have been focused by what is called a “credential stuffing” assault in October 2023.

This noticed hackers use passwords uncovered in earlier breaches to entry 23andMe accounts for which individuals had used the identical or related credentials.

They have been capable of entry 14,000 particular person accounts – and, by these, obtain data regarding about 6.9m folks linked to as potential relations on the positioning.

In keeping with the ICO, this included entry to non-public information belonging to 155,592 UK residents, comparable to names, yr of delivery, geographical data, profile photographs, race, ethnicity, well being stories and household timber.

Stolen information didn’t embody DNA information.

“As a type of impacted informed us: as soon as this data is on the market, it can’t be modified or reissued like a password or bank card quantity,” mentioned Mr Edwards.

As a consequence of its extra delicate nature, genetic information is taken into account particular class information below UK information safety legislation and requires additional protections and safeguards.

Companies controlling it ought to think about having further safety measures in place to assist safe it, based on the ICO’s steering.

Its investigation – launched together with Canada’s privateness commissioner final June – discovered that 23andMe breached UK information safety legislation by not having applicable authentication and verification measures for patrons throughout its login course of.

This included not having necessary multi-factor authentication to permit customers logging in to confirm themselves by further means or gadgets.

The corporate additionally didn’t have safe password necessities or extra verification necessities for customers attempting to obtain uncooked genetic information, it added.

Mr Edwards mentioned such failures and delays in resolving them “left folks’s most delicate information susceptible to exploitation and hurt”.

“Their safety techniques have been insufficient, the warning indicators have been there, and the corporate was gradual to reply,” he mentioned.

The corporate says it resolved the problems recognized throughout the ICO and the Workplace of the Privateness Commissioner of Canada (OPC)’s probe by the top of 2024.

Each watchdogs just lately known as on 23andMe to guard the delicate private information of its prospects amid its chapter proceedings.

The corporate was initially set to be offered to biotechnology firm Regeneron Prescribed drugs in a $256m deal.

However 23andMe mentioned on Friday it had agreed to the sale of its belongings to TTAM Analysis Institute – a non-profit biotech organisation led by its co-founder and former chief government Anne Wojcicki.

It mentioned the acquisition of the corporate for a brand new worth of $305m would include binding commitments to uphold current insurance policies and shopper protections, comparable to letting prospects delete their accounts, genetic information and choose out of analysis.

A chapter court docket is scheduled to listen to the case for its approval on Wednesday.