A drug developer is buying 23andMe – what does that mean for your DNA data?
23andMe/ZDNETFollowing a data breach and bankruptcy, genetic testing service 23andMe will soon be in different hands. On Monday, biotechnology company Regeneron announced that it won the top bid in a bankruptcy auction for 23andMe. In the $256 million acquisition expected to close in the third quarter of 2025, 23andMe will become a subsidiary of Regeneron but continue its current operations and business.Also: How to delete your 23andMe data and why you should do it nowThe deal comes at a rocky time for 23andMe. In late 2023, the company revealed that it had been hit by a data breach that compromised around 14,000 accounts. Using credential stuffing to gain access, the attackers were able to view DNA Relative profiles of 5.5 million people. The compromised data included display names, relationships to the compromised accounts, locations, ancestor birth locations, birth years, percentage DNA matches, and the Family Tree profiles of 1.4 million people.In response, a slew of class action lawsuits sprang up, alleging that 23andMe didn’t effectively protect customer data and that it failed to notify users with Chinese or Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry that their information was targeted and shared across the dark web. With the suits proving successful, affected customers can now file a claim to collect their portion of the overall $30 million penalty. More
