RICHMOND, Va. — Earlier this week, the ancestry company 23andMe announced it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protections. The news is sparking security concerns about the data for the millions of people who've submitted their DNA over the years.
Virginia Tech Professor France Belanger said the company's assets are now up for grabs, which includes the genetic data of its 15 million users. 23andMe says it would begin selling its assets as part of its bankruptcy proceedings.
Belanger and other security experts are encouraging users to go and tell them company to delete all of their genetic data and samples.
Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares put out a statement to remind people the state passed a genetic data privacy law in 2023 giving them the right to do so -- and his office would work to enforce it.
"The bankruptcy of 23andMe, for a privacy perspective, is an issue, because really, data is an asset," Belanger said. "What is in the data is really a map of your family."
Belanger, who specializes in privacy and security, said while the ancestry company has a policy stating it won’t sell customers’ identifiable genetic data -- that policy could be changed and the eventual buyer could be someone who may not have the same rules or follow the same rules.
"The company says itself, there's no guarantee that the original conditions under which this data was shared with the company are going to maintain or perpetuate into the future," added Virginia Commonwealth University Information Systems Professor Peter Aiken. "That data, the software they're after, it could be a problem for the users, because it might be put to a use in which they originally intended to be."
For nearly two decades, people have sent in DNA samples to the ancestry company in order to learn more about their past, unknown relatives, and their potential health risks.
Belanger says the type of genetic information used to do that could be of interest to insurance companies.
She told CBS 6 that while the U.S. has laws blocking health insurance from charging more based off genetic information, other information is still at risk.
"Life insurance, long term care insurance, those are not protected. And so there's a risk right there with that information," Belanger explained.
Aiken added while the information could be used for good reasons, it could also be used for "nefarious" ones.
"There are, for example, lots of studies Alzheimer's to detect early onset...would be a good example of good data use. On the other hand, the nefarious use would be that somebody is looking at data and discovers a hidden, or perhaps previously undisclosed medical condition, that may be a threat to somebody's job or a threat to somebody's livelihood and use that as blackmail."
Looking bigger picture, Belanger says it's a good moment to look at what data you share in elsewhere in your life.
"Go to the privacy settings, take a little bit of time and go see what is already shared. Erase everything you can and protect yourself. Be the most anonymous as you can," Belanger said.
Belanger said that in order to delete your data, go into the account settings on 23andMe's website and follow the prompts there. She said users will get a confirmation email that they'll have to click in order to complete the process.
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