Biotechnology firm 23andMe has agreed to pay a $30 million settlement over an enormous information breach that affected 6.9 million customers.
Per Reuters, the genetic testing firm filed a courtroom doc on Thursday detailing the settlement in a category motion lawsuit within the Northern District of California. Within the doc, 23andMe proposed compensation for victims of the information breach.
23andMe confirms how many individuals had been affected by its information breach. It is not nice information.
What’s the 23andMe settlement about?
In October 2023, 23andMe introduced an information breach by which hackers had stolen customers’ private information and genetic data. Nevertheless it wasn’t till December that 12 months that the corporate revealed the extent of the injury. Round 14,000 customers had their data stolen, however hackers leveraged 23andMe’s relative-finder device to entry much more customers, amounting to the 6.9 million affected.
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The category-action lawsuit filed in San Francisco additionally alleged that 23andMe didn’t correctly notify customers with Chinese language and Ashkenazi Jewish heritage who had been reportedly singled out for his or her data on the darkish net.
So 23andMe is paying up, however that does not imply victims of the breach will get a good distribution of the $30 million. In keeping with the courtroom doc, solely $5 million is allotted in direction of compensating the customers. Breaking this down additional, customers who filed for an “extraordinary declare,” that means they suffered monetary fraud, are eligible for a $10,000 payout. Others, nonetheless, are solely entitled to $100. The majority of the settlement shall be used to pay lawyer charges.
By means of the settlement, 23andMe shall be required to spice up its cybersecurity measures and supply a custom-made “Privateness & Medical Protect + Genetic Monitoring” to affected customers so as to shield them from future fraud and establish theft points. As soon as the settlement proposal is accredited by the courtroom, 23andMe will arrange a devoted class-action settlement web site the place customers can file their particular person claims.
So should you had been considered one of tens of millions of customers affected, keep tuned for extra data on learn how to get your (in all probability small) piece of the settlement.
