Nothing for you because you are all set. Insurance, Medicare, etc. But think about a few years from now, a younger person… HIPAA does not apply to 23andme records… anyone can mine that data short of any measly protections provided by the current laws.
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Very true. But there is a difference in the data needed to identify bloodlines and data needed to identify one’s genetic predisposition to a certain disease.
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Well, I can think of a time when being identified as Jewish could be to your detriment.
Health information is only one potential for misuse.
From a military perspective, for instance:
DNA information could easily be hacked by malicious third parties and used to identify a servicewoman or man for illicit purposes. A 2019 paper by the University of California, Davis Professor Graham Coop and postdoctoral researcher Michael ‘Doc’ Edge revealed how simple it could be to source-identifying information from public DNA databases. “People are giving up more information than they think they are,” Coop says. Information that, unlike a stolen credit card number, can never be changed.
The military’s concern that military personnel’s DNA information could be hacked, compiled, and used against a person individually or the entire country may be a result of the government’s growing use of DNA technology. The government has used DNA testing to confirm refugee application information and has increasingly incorporated DNA testing into border control procedures and criminal databases. The conclusion? The federal government is happy to use DNA testing to identify and surveil individuals in the country, but is very concerned about other groups or governments gaining the same access to information about American soldiers.
Here are some other risks to think about.
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Folks, all these posts from people who didn’t do 23andme or a similar service who are offering reasons that posters shouldn’t have done it aren’t helpful, seem judgmental, and are off-topic. I just don’t understand the point of the challenging tone of some of these posts. People on CC tend to be quite educated and capable of making the best decisions for themselves.
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“It seemed to be an ethnically targeted attack: Golem boasted about having access to the accounts of people of Ashkenazi Jewish heritage who had sent their DNA to 23andMe, and offered to sell it to whoever was prepared to pay. News began to circulate suggesting the data breach on Friday 6 October 2023 may have even had antisemitic motivations.”
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It was because of this data breach that I deleted my 23andme profile. I’m something like 99.6% Ashkenazi Jewish, and I didn’t need every Tom, Dick and Harry knowing that about me.
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The moral of that breach is for people to not re-use passwords…especially passwords that had already been made public (or put up for sale) via other hacks. (that’s how the 23andme hacker accessed the accounts they did.) With that said, I agree with the article above that no site/data is 100% safe…
Totally agree with not re-using passwords. Using a random password generator with a password vault is the best way to keep your passwords safe, but professional hackers don’t need passwords to steal data, bring networks down, plant malware, or cripple machines.
This is true.
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