23andMe to pay $18 million in new genetics data breach settlement
23andMe has agreed to an $18 million settlement with a coalition of 43 state attorneys general over its failure to adequately protect customers' genetic data from a breach. The settlement resolves multistate claims that the company did not take sufficient steps to secure some of the most sensitive personal information people can share.
Why this matters: Genetic data is not like a leaked password. You can change a password. You cannot change your DNA, and neither can your relatives, who never agreed to be in 23andMe's database in the first place. A breach here is permanent exposure. Eighteen million dollars sounds large, but spread across millions of affected customers it is a rounding error. The real accountability question is whether this settlement actually changes how companies handle biological data, or whether it just prices the risk of getting caught.
Who should care: Cybersecurity · Privacy officers · Administrators · Lawyers · Compliance
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