Source: NBCNews.com
Hackers have compiled a giant apparent list of people with Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry after taking that information from the genetic testing service 23andMe, which is now being shared on the internet.
A database that has been shared on dark web forums and viewed by NBC News has a list of 999,999 people who allegedly have used the service. It includes their first and last name, sex, and 23andMe’s evaluation of where their ancestors came from. The database is titled “ashkenazi DNA Data of Celebrities,” though most of the people on it aren’t famous, and it appears to have been sorted to only include people with Ashkenazi heritage.
NBC News was able to verify the data of two 23andMe users in the breach as authentic.
“Crazy, this could be used by Nazis,” one person who appears in the database said.
The company is still investigating the incident, but is treating the leak as authentic. In an emailed statement, a 23andMe spokesperson said the company believes it wasn’t hacked per se. Instead, it believes that the hackers simply gained some users’ passwords that had been hacked and leaked from other sites, then exploited the fact that 23andMe can give users vast access to each others’ genetic information….