23andMe was hacked and ancestry data on 6.9 million users was stolen

Last Friday, genetic testing company 23andMe announced it was hacked, and the personal data of 0.1% of its customers, or 14,000 people, were stolen.

2

However, that isn't the worst of the news, as the company has said that due to the hackers accessing those accounts, they were able to gain access to a "significant number of files containing profile information on other users' ancestry."

What was the number of "other users"? In an email sent to TechCrunch, 23andMe spokesperson Katie Watson confirmed the hackers were able to gain access to the personal information of 5.5 million people who chose to opt-in to 23andMe's DNA Relatives feature.

Furthermore, another ground of 1.4 million people who chose to opt-in to the DNA Relatives had "their Family Tree profile information accessed". For those who don't know, this profile contains information such as display names, relationship labels, years of birth, location, and more.

TechCrunch has reported that it's currently unknown why 23andMe didn't initially reveal these statistics in its Friday announcement and that the breach of the company's servers has actually affected approximately half of 23andMe's total customer base, 14 million people.

• Read more: NASA's most powerful space telescope captured a mysterious 'ghostly' object
• Read more: Amazon's new AI has gone haywire and is 'leaking confidential data'
• Read more: Grand Theft Auto 6 seems it has an in-game social media and livestreaming platform
• Read more: World's largest nuclear fusion reactor was just switched on for the first time
• Read more: Facebook and Instagram are promoting a vast network of pedophile accounts