Hacks of genetic firms pose risk to patients, experts say

^{Photo by seth schwiet on Unsplash}

It’s not just schools, local governments and major private-sector firms like Colonial Pipeline getting hacked. Hackers have also hit genetic and fertility clinics, which have troves of sensitive information.

Since the beginning of last year, more than a dozen medical labs, genetic testing companies and fertility firms have disclosed breaches affecting more than 3.5 million people, according to a Cybersecurity 202 review of data breach disclosures to states and the Department of Health and Human Services. 

The hacks raise questions about what can happen when genetic information falls into the wrong hands, and it’s not clear what measures the firms adopted to protect the data and what the data consists of. They also come amid heightened digital privacy concerns in the wake of the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade.

What are the risks for average Americans? Experts who spoke with The Cybersecurity 202 offered varying degrees of concern.

Brad Malin, a professor of biomedical informatics, biostatistics and computer science at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, said the risks are “highly dependent on how...