WASHINGTON – A hacker is promoting hundreds of thousands of “pieces of data” stolen from the household genetics web sites 23andMe, in keeping with posts made to a web based discussion board the place digital thieves typically promote leaked knowledge.
23andMe stated in an announcement Friday that whereas an unspecified quantity of “customer profile information” had been compiled “through access to individual 23andMe.com accounts,” the corporate itself had not been breached.
“We do not have any indication at this time that there has been a data security incident within our systems,” the assertion stated.
The assertion went on to say {that a} hacker could have collected passwords stolen from different websites and reused them in a bid to hijack 23andMe accounts. The method – often known as credential stuffing — is one purpose why cybersecurity consultants suggest towards utilizing the identical password for various websites.
A second layer of password safety, often known as two-factor authentication, also can assist frustrate these sorts of hacks.
Reuters couldn’t instantly discover a approach to contact the hacker, not less than one in every of whose posts has since been faraway from the discussion board. The measurement of the breach wasn’t instantly obvious and the hacker offered contradictory figures and outline of what they’d stolen. — Reuters
Source: www.gmanetwork.com
