Questions emerge about bioethics as reports suggest 23 and Me faces takeover

The catastrophic fall from grace of the genetic testing app 23 and Me is a salutary lesson for all companies that espouse the use of “big data” in healthcare.?

Once a leading digital health tech firm, worth $6 billion as recently as 2021, the company is now on the verge of being taken private at a value of around $75 million.?

There are several reasons for this, including that it’s really a one use only service. This proved to be a long-term challenge to a business model reliant on people paying for DNA tests.?

But 23 and Me’s credibility was further damaged in October 2023 when it emerged that a hacker had exploited weaknesses in the company’s authentication system.?

Using credential stuffing – using usernames and passwords stolen from other organisations – it turned out that hackers were able to access data from nearly half of the 14.1 million customers on the company’s database.?

It’s a basic technique. The words “horse” and “stable door” sprang to mind after 23 and Me began requiring all users to sign up to two-factor authentication in response to the breach.?

For a company that had been hoping to harvest the genetic information for drug research, the data breach was seen by many as a point of no return.?

The company had already lost much of its value since its Nasdaq IPO in 2021, but the stock has continued to dwindle in value ever since.?

With potential buyers circling, questions are now being asked about how the data gathered by the company will be used.?

Will it be used for research, like it was intended to, or could law enforcement or government agencies gain access? For those who opened up their most private data for the greater good, the news of 23 and Me’s demise will be of great concern.?