Genetic testing company 23andMe said Monday that hackers were able to access the data of about 6.9 million people, far more than the company previously acknowledged.
The finding is the result of an investigation 23andMe launched in October, after at least one list of people whom the site identified as having Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry was posted online.
I think 23nMe looks into genome related predisposal to health issues. Like “this sequence here is related to high probability of pancreatic cancer” or some bullshit like that.
In the hands of hackers, I guess it could be used to target individuals for highly specific scams or something like that. That’s only what I can think of though. Who knows what they’ll use it for and if it even has identifiable personal info past just ancestry.
The tinfoil hat theory is that this info could be used to charge extra for insurance premiums/denial of coverage…