Hackers were able to gain access to the personal information of 6.9 million 23andMe customers in a data breach, the company confirmed on Tuesday — representing nearly half of 23andMe’s reported user base of 14 million customers.
The genetic testing company, which offers health insights and ancestry information based on customer-submitted DNA collected by saliva swabs, said it learned of the hack in early October. After weeks of speculation, the true extent of the data breach has been revealed.
In some cases, users’ names, family trees, ancestry reports, locations, profile pictures and birth years were leaked. While the stolen data does not include DNA records, 23andMe told Global News in an email that the breach may have leaked “specifically where on (users’) chromosomes they and their relative had matching DNA.”
According to a proposed class-action lawsuit against 23andMe filed in B.C. Supreme Court, this stolen information was then put up for sale on the dark web.
The lead plaintiff in the lawsuit is an unnamed B.C. man, whose identity is protected under a publication ban, lawyer Sage Nematollahi told Global News.
Nematollahi’s firm KND Complex Litigation and Vancouver-based law firm YLaw Group are working together to pursue this class-action lawsuit.
Nematollahi said in a phone interview that “thousands” of Canadians have reached out to his law firm in the wake of the data breach, seeking to join the class-action suit. He said the volume of inquiries was “unprecedented” in his career.
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The lawsuit alleges that 23andMe engaged in “willful, knowing or reckless conduct” by not implementing and maintaining proper data retention and data protection practices.
“As a result, they affirmatively exposed the highly sensitive and highly valuable customer data in their control, custody or possession to unauthorized parties and cybercriminals,” the lawsuit reads.
The suit seeks unspecified monetary damages, including the price that affected customers paid for 23andMe’s services as well as further damages resulting from the data breach. The proposed class-action lawsuit is open to anyone residing in Canada whose personal information was leaked by 23andMe.
Nematollahi wrote in a statement that, as a large business operator, 23andMe is held to “stringent standards under Canadian privacy laws, which require it to properly and responsibly manage and protect its customers’ highly sensitive and highly valuable personal information.”
“It is our hope that this class action will shed light on the facts, provide access to justice to Canadian customers who have been affected by this situation, and promote behaviour modification and responsible data management practices in the industry,” he added.
The proposed class-action lawsuit is being “actively pursued,” Nematollahi said, and the next court date for the case is slated for January.
Nematollahi says he and his colleagues are seeking an expedited court date to discuss recent tactics undertaken by 23andMe, which include a change to their terms of service that would force users into binding arbitration for any legal disputes. This means users would not be able to file or join class-action lawsuits.
23andMe is only giving users 30 days from when they receive the email about the new policy to opt out, The Verge reports. Users can opt out by contacting arbitrationoptout@23andme.com.
“We have strong objections to these moves and tactics, and are taking steps to address this situation with the Court on an urgent basis in order to protect the interests of our clients and Canadian customers of 23andMe,” Nematollahi said.
How did the leak happen?
The company says a “threat actor” gained access to a small percentage of 23andMe accounts via “credential stuffing.”
“That is, usernames and passwords that were used on 23andMe.com were the same as those used on other websites that have been previously compromised or otherwise available,” 23andMe said in a blog post.
The hackers were able to access 14,000 accounts, less than 0.1 per cent of the user base, using these usernames and passwords that had previously been leaked. From this small seed, the hackers were able to access information from millions more accounts through 23andMe’s DNA Relatives and Family Tree features, which allow users to share information with other users they are genetically linked to.
Approximately 5.5 million users had data leaked from their DNA Relatives profile, as well as an additional 1.4 million users through the Family Tree feature, “each of which were connected to the compromised accounts,” 23andMe says.
The genetic testing company says it emailed all customers to notify them of the data breach and now requires all new and existing users to log in to their accounts using two-step verification.
“Protecting our customers’ data privacy and security remains a top priority for 23andMe, and we will continue to invest in protecting our systems and data,” the company said.
It recommends that customers change their password to one that is not easy to guess and is unique to their account.
Users can also opt out of the DNA Relatives feature to prevent their information from being shared with other accounts. Customers can opt out by selecting the “Manage Preferences” option on their “Account Settings” page.
Users who want to fully delete their 23andMe accounts and personal information can do so within the “23andMe Data” section on their “Account Settings” page.
“While we will delete the majority of your Personal Information, we are required to retain some information to comply with our legal obligations,” 23andMe writes on its website. “Deleting an account and associated data will permanently delete the data associated with all profiles within the account.”
TOKYO (AP) — Japanese technology group SoftBank swung back to profitability in the July-September quarter, boosted by positive results in its Vision Fund investments.
Tokyo-based SoftBank Group Corp. reported Tuesday a fiscal second quarter profit of nearly 1.18 trillion yen ($7.7 billion), compared with a 931 billion yen loss in the year-earlier period.
Quarterly sales edged up about 6% to nearly 1.77 trillion yen ($11.5 billion).
SoftBank credited income from royalties and licensing related to its holdings in Arm, a computer chip-designing company, whose business spans smartphones, data centers, networking equipment, automotive, consumer electronic devices, and AI applications.
The results were also helped by the absence of losses related to SoftBank’s investment in office-space sharing venture WeWork, which hit the previous fiscal year.
WeWork, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2023, emerged from Chapter 11 in June.
SoftBank has benefitted in recent months from rising share prices in some investment, such as U.S.-based e-commerce company Coupang, Chinese mobility provider DiDi Global and Bytedance, the Chinese developer of TikTok.
SoftBank’s financial results tend to swing wildly, partly because of its sprawling investment portfolio that includes search engine Yahoo, Chinese retailer Alibaba, and artificial intelligence company Nvidia.
SoftBank makes investments in a variety of companies that it groups together in a series of Vision Funds.
The company’s founder, Masayoshi Son, is a pioneer in technology investment in Japan. SoftBank Group does not give earnings forecasts.
Shopify Inc. executives brushed off concerns that incoming U.S. President Donald Trump will be a major detriment to many of the company’s merchants.
“There’s nothing in what we’ve heard from Trump, nor would there have been anything from (Democratic candidate) Kamala (Harris), which we think impacts the overall state of new business formation and entrepreneurship,” Shopify’s chief financial officer Jeff Hoffmeister told analysts on a call Tuesday.
“We still feel really good about all the merchants out there, all the entrepreneurs that want to start new businesses and that’s obviously not going to change with the administration.”
Hoffmeister’s comments come a week after Trump, a Republican businessman, trounced Harris in an election that will soon return him to the Oval Office.
On the campaign trail, he threatened to impose tariffs of 60 per cent on imports from China and roughly 10 per cent to 20 per cent on goods from all other countries.
If the president-elect makes good on the promise, many worry the cost of operating will soar for companies, including customers of Shopify, which sells e-commerce software to small businesses but also brands as big as Kylie Cosmetics and Victoria’s Secret.
These merchants may feel they have no choice but to pass on the increases to customers, perhaps sparking more inflation.
If Trump’s tariffs do come to fruition, Shopify’s president Harley Finkelstein pointed out China is “not a huge area” for Shopify.
However, “we can’t anticipate what every presidential administration is going to do,” he cautioned.
He likened the uncertainty facing the business community to the COVID-19 pandemic where Shopify had to help companies migrate online.
“Our job is no matter what comes the way of our merchants, we provide them with tools and service and support for them to navigate it really well,” he said.
Finkelstein was questioned about the forthcoming U.S. leadership change on a call meant to delve into Shopify’s latest earnings, which sent shares soaring 27 per cent to $158.63 shortly after Tuesday’s market open.
The Ottawa-based company, which keeps its books in U.S. dollars, reported US$828 million in net income for its third quarter, up from US$718 million in the same quarter last year, as its revenue rose 26 per cent.
Revenue for the period ended Sept. 30 totalled US$2.16 billion, up from US$1.71 billion a year earlier.
Subscription solutions revenue reached US$610 million, up from US$486 million in the same quarter last year.
Merchant solutions revenue amounted to US$1.55 billion, up from US$1.23 billion.
Shopify’s net income excluding the impact of equity investments totalled US$344 million for the quarter, up from US$173 million in the same quarter last year.
Daniel Chan, a TD Cowen analyst, said the results show Shopify has a leadership position in the e-commerce world and “a continued ability to gain market share.”
In its outlook for its fourth quarter of 2024, the company said it expects revenue to grow at a mid-to-high-twenties percentage rate on a year-over-year basis.
“Q4 guidance suggests Shopify will finish the year strong, with better-than-expected revenue growth and operating margin,” Chan pointed out in a note to investors.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
TORONTO – RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust says it has cut almost 10 per cent of its staff as it deals with a slowdown in the condo market and overall pushes for greater efficiency.
The company says the cuts, which amount to around 60 employees based on its last annual filing, will mean about $9 million in restructuring charges and should translate to about $8 million in annualized cash savings.
The job cuts come as RioCan and others scale back condo development plans as the market softens, but chief executive Jonathan Gitlin says the reductions were from a companywide efficiency effort.
RioCan says it doesn’t plan to start any new construction of mixed-use properties this year and well into 2025 as it adjusts to the shifting market demand.
The company reported a net income of $96.9 million in the third quarter, up from a loss of $73.5 million last year, as it saw a $159 million boost from a favourable change in the fair value of investment properties.
RioCan reported what it says is a record-breaking 97.8 per cent occupancy rate in the quarter including retail committed occupancy of 98.6 per cent.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 12, 2024.
