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#Privacy, #Security, #Identification DNA testing: What happens if your genetic data is hacked? bbc ^ | Jenny Kleeman https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20240212-dna-testing-what-happens-if-your-genetic-data-is-hacked In autumn 2023, a hacker called Golem posted on a well-known message board for cybercriminals, announcing a trove of data stolen from 23andMe, one of the biggest names in at-home DNA testing. Golem boasted about having access to the accounts of people of Ashkenazi Jewish heritage who had sent their DNA to 23andMe, and offered to sell it to whoever was prepared to pay. "tailored ethnic groupings, individualized data sets, pinpointed origin estimations, haplogroup details, phenotype information, photographs, links to hundreds of potential relatives, and, most crucially, raw data profiles". The purported ability of Jews to blend in – to "pass" as white – has been at the root of antisemitic conspiracy theories. During the Holocaust, the Nazis forced Jews to wear yellow stars so they could be immediately identifiable. A data breach that included ethnicity estimates given in ancestry reports could mean that Jewish people who had taken a DNA test could potentially have a permanent digital yellow star next to their names, photographs and geographical location. With the data of half 23andMe's customers now in the hands of cybercriminals, the breach clearly affected far more than just Ashkenazi Jewish account holders. Indeed, in subsequent posts on the hackers forum, Golem supposedly offered the data of British, German and Chinese 23andMe users, as well as that of 23andMe chief executive Anne Wojcicki, her ex-husband and Google founder Sergey Brin, Elon Musk and members of the British Royal Family. In an age where an increasing number of financial decisions are made by algorithms that scrape all possible sources of information about an individual, there is a serious possibility of financial loss and discrimination arising from a leak of genetic data. Even if you haven't taken one of these tests, it's likely that you have a close relative who has...