23andMe confirmed that the data available for sale online was genuine.

The genetic profiles of potentially millions of 23andMe users have been put up for sale on a hacker forum by a seller who claimed the data could be used to target Ashkenazi Jews and those of Chinese descent.

The company, which specializes in preparing ancestry reports for users who send in a saliva sample, confirmed that the data available for sale online was genuine, but said the leak was not the result of a breach in its systems.

Rather, users’ individual accounts were compromised via other data leaks that exposed their login credentials to other sites. “We are taking this issue seriously and will continue our investigation to confirm these preliminary results,” 23andMe told Bloomberg in a statement.

The anonymous seller began selling profiles for between $1 and $10 earlier this week, according to Wired, which notes that the hacker also claims to be offering the data of “celebrities” including Elon Musk, Sergey Brin, and Mark Zuckerberg.

You can read more in an article by Mark Alfred published in the DailyBeast web site at: https://www.thedailybeast.com/23andme-customers-genetic-profiles-on-sale-by-hacker.