A 23andMe Data Hack Appears to Target Ashkenazi Jews.
Hackers have obtained a vast list of individuals with Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry from the genetic testing service 23andMe and have shared it on the internet.
The database, titled “ashkenazi DNA Data of Celebrities,” contains the information of 999,999 alleged users of the service, including their names, gender, and the evaluation of their ancestral origins provided by 23andMe. Despite the title of the database, it primarily consists of non-famous individuals and seems to have been filtered to include only those with Ashkenazi heritage.
23andMe is treating the leak as genuine and is currently investigating the incident. A spokesperson for the company states that it does not believe it was directly hacked. Instead, it suspects that the hackers obtained some users’ passwords from other breached sites, which were then used to exploit the fact that 23andMe allows users access to extensive genetic information from other users. Earlier this week, a hacker on a prominent forum claimed to have a larger database of users for sale, although it remains uncertain whether the individuals who filtered the list by Ashkenazi heritage are the same as those who initially compiled it.
So it may not be legit
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