DNA testing biz vows to improve infosec after criminals break into database it forgot it had
A DNA diagnostics company will pay $400,000 and tighten its security in the wake of a 2021 attack where criminals broke into its network and swiped personal data on over two million people from a nine-year-old"legacy" database the company forgot it had.
The genetic testing firm, DNA Diagnostics Center reached a settlement deal with states' attorneys general in Ohio and Pennsylvania last week, after the social security numbers of 45,000 residents of the two states was exposed, with each of the states getting $200k. Ultimately the 2021 attack exposed the data of over 2.1 million people who had undergone genetic testing across the US.
DDC claimed the impacted databases, which contained"sensitive personal information" were inadvertently transferred to DDC fromwithout its knowledge and said it was not even"aware" that these legacy databases existed in its systems at the time of the breach – more than nine years after the acquisition.
By August 2021, the service provider notified DDC that there were indications of Cobalt Strike malware observed on DDC's network,"which finally led DDC to activate its incident response plan," according to the settlement., meanwhile, quoted a DDC spokesperson as claiming its internal IT team had responded to a May email alert"through the decommissioning of technical assets that were potentially vulnerable.
In September 2021, the threat actor contacted DDC and informed the company that the threat actor successfully exfiltrated sensitive personal information from DDC's network and demanded payment.
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