The Canadian and British privacy authorities have launched a joint probe into a data breach at genetics testing company 23andme last year, Canada’s privacy commissioner said in a statement on Monday.
Last October, 23andMe told some customers of a breach into the “DNA Relatives” feature that allowed them to compare ancestry information with users worldwide.
The company admitted to a data breach after a hacker appeared online offering to sell 23andMe user information on the dark web. The information appeared to include around a million users, with Ashkenazi Jews specifically targeted, according to the hacker.
In addition to genetic information, the data included personal identifying information like names, geographic locations and photos.
NewsNation’s Stephanie Whiteside contributed to this report.
