Biotechnology company 23andMe has agreed to pay a $30 million settlement over a massive data breach that affected 6.9 million users.
The genetic testing company filed a court document on Thursday detailing a settlement of a class-action lawsuit in the Northern District of California, Reuters reported. In the filing, 23andMe proposed compensating data breach victims.
23andMe confirms how many people were affected by the breach of their data. This is not good news.
What is the 23andMe Settlement Agreement About?
In October 2023, 23andMe announced that a data breach had occurred, and hackers had stolen users’ personal records and genetic information. But it wasn’t until December that year that the company revealed the extent of the damage. About 14,000 users had their information stolen, but hackers used 23andMe’s relative lookup tool to gain access to many more, bringing the number affected to 6.9 million.
Mix and match speed of light
The class action lawsuit filed in San Francisco also alleges that 23andMe failed to properly notify users of Chinese and Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry who were reportedly singled out for providing information on the dark web.
So, 23andMe is compensating, but that doesn’t mean victims of the leak will receive an even split of the $30 million. According to court documents, only $5 million has been set aside to compensate users. Breaking it down further, users who file a “special claim” (meaning they suffered financial fraud) are eligible for $10,000 in compensation. However, others will only receive $100. The majority of the settlement amount will be used to pay attorneys’ fees.
Through the settlement, 23andMe will be required to strengthen its cybersecurity measures and provide affected users with customized “Privacy and Medical Shield + Genetic Monitoring” to protect them from future fraud and identify theft issues. Once the settlement is approved by the court, 23andMe will establish a dedicated class action settlement website where users can file individual claims.
So if you’re one of the millions of affected users, stay tuned for more information on how to receive (possibly a small portion of) the settlement.
