Breach exposed more than one million DNA profiles on a major genealogy database • Hacker News Board

Re: Breach exposed more than one million DNA profiles on a major genealogy database

#91

Post by all_blue_chucks » Thu, Jul 23, 2020, 2:32 AM UTC

austhrow743 wrote: post #73

all_blue_chucks wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is the impact of having your DNA known? As far as I can tell the worst case scenarios are finding out you have to pay child support or getting placed at the scene of a crime. If those risks don't apply to you, who cares?

Getting placed at the scene of a crime applies to everyone. Remember that once you do it, it’s out there forever. So you can’t just rely on “I haven’t and won’t break any laws that exist in my country right now”. Having certain characteristics that show up in your test could be illegal in 20 years time. You don’t know.

That's an interesting point, but if your government becomes blatantly oppressive they don't need DNA to do it.

Re: Breach exposed more than one million DNA profiles on a major genealogy database

#92

Post by bobbylarrybobby » Thu, Jul 23, 2020, 2:33 AM UTC

SomewhatLikely wrote: post #78

js2 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> One of the core tenets of Mormon faith is that the dead can be baptized into the faith after their passing. Baptism of the dead evolved from the beliefs that baptism is necessary for salvation and that the family unit can continue to exist together beyond mortal life if all members are baptized. > Mormons trace their family trees to find the names of ancestors who died without learning about the restored Mormon Gos…

Why not just baptize every human then?

Ha! Get a load of this guy, caring about people outside his family /s

Re: Breach exposed more than one million DNA profiles on a major genealogy database

#93

Post by jhart99 » Thu, Jul 23, 2020, 2:34 AM UTC

tossmeout wrote: post #13

There should be fines big enough to bankrupt the companies who fail to secure data this kind of data. Is there some other way to convince them to take the issue more seriously?

Verogen might very well be in trouble because of CCPA violations either from state fines or from consumer suits.

Re: Breach exposed more than one million DNA profiles on a major genealogy database

#94

Post by njovin » Thu, Jul 23, 2020, 2:38 AM UTC

jrumbut wrote: post #58

loughnane wrote: post #3

This is why I’ve been putting off getting my genome sequenced. One breach and it’s out there forever. I’ve heard good things about nebula[0] as a way to get an anonymous genome but have yet to be motivated enough to take the plunge [0] https://nebula.org/whole-genome-sequencing/

Regardless of their policies, they still want to store it themselves and put it on the Internet. I am hoping that someday there will be a sequencing company that will mail me a drive containing the only copy and destroy the sample. I'm not worried about a sophisticated attack on my individual sequence but I suspect most of these services are or will be targeted by advanced and persistent attackers. Call me paranoid b…

This is not meant to be confrontational in any way: what are the risks of having your genome exposed?

Re: Breach exposed more than one million DNA profiles on a major genealogy database

#95

Post by daveevad » Thu, Jul 23, 2020, 2:39 AM UTC

all_blue_chucks wrote: post #87

dfee wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you’ve got nothing to hide... then make it all public. Let’s start with your finances.

I openly talk about my finances with anyone who wants to talk personal finance. What threat are you imagining this could pose?

let's start with your bank account and routing numbers.

Re: Breach exposed more than one million DNA profiles on a major genealogy database

#96

Post by mauvehaus » Thu, Jul 23, 2020, 2:39 AM UTC

all_blue_chucks wrote: post #59

thephyber wrote: post #22

As someone who works in cybersecurity, it's always hard for me to interpret PR language like "orchestrated through a sophisticated attack". This could be aimed towards non-savvy readers meaning basically anything or it could be accurate and describe a nation-state (although I don't get the feeling of a sophisticated nation-state actor here). The DoJ used similar wording when prosecuting Aaron Schwartz for using Pytho…

As someone who works in cybersecurity, it is perfectly clear to me that victims of attacks don't want to sound inept in their announcements so they ALWAYS say attacks are "sophisticated," "orchestrated," or "advanced." Nobody is going to say "we were hacked because we lack even basic security precautions." Instead, everything is an "APT."

Point of order: the victims of the attack are the million or so people reading about it in the news.

The targets of the attack are doing their level best to control the narrative by spinning their attackers as extremely sophisticated so they don’t end up with a million or so people holding torches and pitchforks outside their offices.

Re: Breach exposed more than one million DNA profiles on a major genealogy database

#97

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Jul 23, 2020, 2:45 AM UTC

all_blue_chucks wrote: post #61

loughnane wrote: post #3

This is why I’ve been putting off getting my genome sequenced. One breach and it’s out there forever. I’ve heard good things about nebula[0] as a way to get an anonymous genome but have yet to be motivated enough to take the plunge [0] https://nebula.org/whole-genome-sequencing/

What is the impact of having your DNA known? As far as I can tell the worst case scenarios are finding out you have to pay child support or getting placed at the scene of a crime. If those risks don't apply to you, who cares?

[deleted]

Re: Breach exposed more than one million DNA profiles on a major genealogy database

#98

Post by cinquemb » Thu, Jul 23, 2020, 2:46 AM UTC

I'd be only interested in this stuff when we can do our own dna readouts at home and compare it against population level statistics that have been published publicly by researchers

Re: Breach exposed more than one million DNA profiles on a major genealogy database

#99

Post by mkhpalm » Thu, Jul 23, 2020, 2:48 AM UTC

SomewhatLikely wrote: post #78

js2 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> One of the core tenets of Mormon faith is that the dead can be baptized into the faith after their passing. Baptism of the dead evolved from the beliefs that baptism is necessary for salvation and that the family unit can continue to exist together beyond mortal life if all members are baptized. > Mormons trace their family trees to find the names of ancestors who died without learning about the restored Mormon Gos…

Why not just baptize every human then?

I think they actually try to in what they call baptism for the dead.

Re: Breach exposed more than one million DNA profiles on a major genealogy database

#100

Post by edbaskerville » Thu, Jul 23, 2020, 2:49 AM UTC

SomewhatLikely wrote: post #78

js2 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> One of the core tenets of Mormon faith is that the dead can be baptized into the faith after their passing. Baptism of the dead evolved from the beliefs that baptism is necessary for salvation and that the family unit can continue to exist together beyond mortal life if all members are baptized. > Mormons trace their family trees to find the names of ancestors who died without learning about the restored Mormon Gos…

Why not just baptize every human then?

There has been a bit of that. Although it is officially against church policy, some Mormons have baptized some deceased Jews, including Anne Frank:

https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/03/us/jews-take-issue-with-p...