California Attorney General sues 23andMe successor for 2023 data breach

California Attorney General Rob Bonta has said helium volition writer DNA investigating steadfast Chrome Holding pursuing a probe connected Thursday, alleging its predecessor institution 23andMe failed to support delicate lawsuit data.

Bonta said the nonaccomplishment resulted successful a 2023 information breach which exposed familial predispositions and hazard factors of astir 7 cardinal users, positive accusation astir biologic relatives, ancestry, and ethnicity.

"Our probe recovered that the institution failed to instrumentality basal steps to support users' data," said Bonta, who added 23andMe "lied to consumers astir the severity of its 2023 information breach."

The BBC has requested remark from Chrome Holding.

The institution was rebranded aft 23andMe filed for bankruptcy past year.

Bonta besides alleges the consequent merchantability of 23andMe idiosyncratic information connected the acheronian web by menace actors specifically touted that it belonged to Asian American Pacific Islanders (AAPI) and Jewish users.

"This is disturbing and incredibly dangerous" fixed it occurred during a play of "mounting anti-Asian American and Pacific Islander and antisemitic hatred and violence," Bonta said.

Users were targeted by a alleged "credential stuffing" onslaught successful which hackers utilized passwords exposed successful erstwhile breaches to entree 23andMe accounts for which radical had utilized akin credentials.

The 2023 information breach has resulted successful planetary regulatory scrutiny for the company.

The ICO said idiosyncratic information of 155,592 UK residents was accessed.

The institution has said it has "made respective binding commitments to heighten protections for lawsuit information and privacy."

The ICO's probe was conducted successful coordination with Canada's privateness commissioner and recovered 23andMe violated UK instrumentality by failing to instrumentality due authentication and verification measures for customers during its login process.

At the time, immoderate users expressed interest implicit the imaginable of security companies purchasing their information and utilizing it to find whether to supply coverage.

23andMe was cofounded by Anne Wojcicki, sister of the precocious YouTube brag Susan Wojcicki and ex-wife of Google co-founder Sergey Brin.

The institution erstwhile counted Snoop Dogg, Oprah Winfrey, and Eva Longoria arsenic customers and saw its stock terms apical $300 astatine its highest earlier crashing successful 2024.