Security Digest (December 2023)

• 23andMe, a genetic testing company that offers services in tracing distant relatives, suffered a data breach in October that was originally estimated to have exposed the personal data of roughly 14,000 individuals (.1% of the customer base).
• An additional investigation has confirmed the scope of the breach to be much larger than originally anticipated, with some figures estimating 6.9 million affected individuals in total. The stolen data included the person’s name, birth year, relationship labels, the percentage of DNA shared with relatives, ancestry reports and self-reported location. This estimate shows that roughly half of 23andMe’s 14 million users were affected.
• 23andMe’s internal investigation found that the most likely cause of the breach to be ‘credential stuffing’. Credential stuffing is a common attack in which a threat actor uses a collection of stolen login credentials to attempt to login to various websites. This process is always automated and leverages the likeliness of an end user to repeat usernames and passwords across multiple sites. An overview of this process can be seen below:
  • Step 1: A threat actor acquires a list of compromised user accounts and passwords. These are usually captured during data leaks and sold on the dark web or in hacker forums.
  • Step 2: A threat actor configures a bot to automatically log into multiple user accounts across various websites.
  • Step 3: The threat actor runs an automated process to check if stolen credentials grant access to any web accounts.
  • Step 4: The threat actor monitors for successful logins and steals any valuable information.

• Several lawsuits are already in effect against the company, alleging 23andMe changed their terms of service to limit legal exposure following the breach. These changes include a mandatory binding arbitration, which could force users to waive rights to appeal a decision or join a class action lawsuit.
• It is important to note that 23andMe did not have a compromise of any internal systems. The user accounts were accessed legitimately through continued logon attempts. This calls into question if a company is responsible for end users reusing passwords to make accounts easily accessible.

How can we stay safe?

You can prevent suffering an account compromise even if your password is leaked through the following methods:

• Use Multi-Factor Authentication: Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) uses various sign on methods to verify identity. This requires a combination of something you know (like a password) with something you have (like your phone) or something you are (a biometric factor, like your face or a fingerprint).
• Use a Password Manager: Password managers keep all your passwords stored in one place and protects access to that place through MFA. This prevents end users from re-using passwords and ensures passwords are not easily guessable.
• Use Security Questions: Where applicable, you can configure security questions whenever a logon is detected from an unfamiliar device. Make sure your security questions do not contain easily accessible information (such as the high school you attended or your birthday), but instead focus on personal information (like your favorite food or the place of your first date).