Veritas Genetics Data Breach
| Veritas Genetics Data Breach | |
|---|---|
| Short Title | DNA-testing Firm Veritas Genetics Confirms a Data Breach |
| Location | United States |
| Date | November 2019 |
| Solove Harm | Insecurity, Disclosure |
| Information | Identifying, Contact |
| Threat Actors | Veritas Genetics Inc. |
| Individuals | |
| Affected | Some users of Veritas Genetics |
| High Risk Groups | |
| Tangible Harms | |
DNA-testing firm Veritas Genetics was found to have experienced a security breach that included customer information.
Description
Veritas Genetics is a DNA-testing startup. Unlike other more popular DNA-testing companies, that analyse only a small fraction of a person’s DNA, Veritas sequences all 6.4 billion letters of a genome.
In November 2019 the company was found to have experienced a security breach that included customer information. Insecurity
Veritas claimed, that the genetic and health data of customers was not affected by the breach, but there was no clarification on personal information involved in the breach. It’s likely that the breach affected other personal data collected by Veritas: identifying information, contact information.
The nature of the breach was unauthorised access, which can be interpreted as Disclosure.
Although the breached data did not include biometric information, it’s concerning that a health startup fails to apply needed security measures to protect users’ data.
Laws and Regulations
Sources
https://themarkup.org/ask-the-markup/2020/02/25/dna-testing-kit
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-11-06/breach-at-dna-test-firm-veritas-exposed-customer-information
https://techcrunch.com/2019/11/07/veritas-genetics-data-breach/