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They did not leak their database, the attacker guessed some user passwords and scraped those people's match lists. I don't think they even got their hacked use
by vintermann 3mo ago
They did not leak their database, the attacker guessed some user passwords and scraped those people's match lists.
I don't think they even got their hacked user's test results - you can download those from 23andMe, as GDPR requires, but it's a "request your data" process which isn't so easy to do at scale without people noticing.
23andMe is also not NGS sequencing, so you get only a couple of 100000 letters randomly* distributed across your whole genome.
- jefftk 3mo agoI know you put an asterisk, but to make it clear: these locations are very far from random. They're the most informative positions, which is why we check them.
- vintermann 3mo agoWell, they're what 23andMe thinks are most informative, for the things they think their customers care about. Or thought; for compatibility reasons they can't change their SNP panels very often or too much. And the interesting positions are still reasonably randomly distributed by nature :)
- bonsai_spool 3mo agoI don't do SNP design but I don't think 23andMe made their own chips at first (if they have ever). SNPs are chosen based on being informative for population discrimination, with traits being overlaid afterwards
- vintermann 3mo agoI could be wrong, but I do believe they get to choose. What I do know is that none of the big testing companies test exactly the same SNPs, there is some overlap but every test is different. They also change their SNP sets from time to time, 23andMe has changed at least 5 times, and interestingly, their current test isn't the biggest (it tests fewer SNPs than some of their earlier ones).
- doctorpangloss 3mo agowell SNPs aren't useful for drug development, commercialization, medicine, etc. you want whole genome or whole exome sequencing for stuff that is future-looking. they use a process for the present day (quickly becoming the past) of okayish drugs instead of sequencing for a future of cures.