Less than a year after 23andMe settled a lawsuit over a data breach which targeted Jewish clients, the company announced it was for sale along with all the genetic data it has collected – meaning, once again, the genetic information of Jewish clients is up for grabs.
The firm paid out $30 million, according to multiple reports in 2024, causing its valuation to plummet – a fall it never recovered from as the company declared bankruptcy last week.
With the company’s data up for sale, the genetic information of 15 million people are now up for grabs, according to the Jewish Chronicle. Privacy experts are reportedly urging users to delete their data now while they can.
The company’s saliva-based tests provide information on a user’s ancestry and whether they might be at genetic risk for certain diseases.
23andMe has made at least 30 deals with companies including British drugmaker, allowing them to access its database. Most of its agreements remain undisclosed.
“Genetic data isn’t just a bit of personal information — it is a blueprint of your entire biological profile. When a company goes under, this personal data is an asset to be sold with potentially far-reaching consequences,” NordVPN cybersecurity expert Adrianus Warmenhoven said.
Data privacy expert Suzanne Bernstein, of the nonprofit Electronic Privacy Information Centre, told the JC that customers now face “little to no protection for their data as 23andMe heads into bankruptcy.”
While the data will be anonymized, Bernstein cautioned against allowing the information to remain, citing the company’s “poor track record of data security.”
“It is becoming increasingly easier to reidentify data sets – machine learning systems and other analytical tools can combine data sets to reveal personal information. Genetic data is highly sensitive and immutable,” she further warned. “It’s one thing to change a phone number or social security number after an identity hack, but your genetic data cannot be replaced.”
The company, which launched in 2017, was reportedly particularly popular among Ashkenazi Jews for the opportunity it provided to reconnect families separated by the Holocaust.
What potential risks are there to having genetic information available?
Bernstein noted the DNA, which can reveal much about a person’s health, may be highly valuable to a private health insurance company.
“There is a regulation in the US that prohibits discrimination based on genetic information in health insurance and employment contracts,” Bernstein explained. “Yet there are loopholes – insurers have been reported to use data purchased from brokers to set prices based on lifestyle information, potentially impacting rates.”
The US Federal Trade Commission is also concerned about the potential sale or transfer of Americans’ personal information by 23andMe ancestry testing company that recently filed for bankruptcy, the agency’s chairman said on Monday.
Any purchaser of 23andMe assets should agree to be bound by the company’s existing privacy policy, FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson said in a letter to the US trustee, a government office that oversees bankruptcies.
The company filed for bankruptcy protection on March 23 amid weak demand for its ancestry testing kits. It has said the bankruptcy process will not affect how it stores, manages or protects customer data.
Officials including California Attorney General Rob Bonta had questioned what would happen to the genetic data collected by 23andMe. The company’s privacy policies say that the data could be sold to other firms. Bonta has urged 23andMe customers to delete their genetic data.
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