Gedmatch investigating after users’ DNA profile data made available to police

[InfoSec News <alerts () infosecnews org>]

https://techcrunch.com/2020/07/19/gedmatch-investigating-dna-profile-law-enforcement/

By Zack Whittaker
TechCrunch
July 19, 2020

Gedmatch, the DNA analysis site that police used to catch the so-called 
Golden State Killer, was pulled briefly offline on Sunday while its parent 
company investigated how its users’ DNA profile data apparently became 
available to law enforcement searches.

The site, which lets users upload their DNA profile data to trace their 
family tree and ancestors, rose to overnight fame in 2018 after law 
enforcement used the site to match the DNA from a serial murder suspect 
against the site’s million-plus DNA profiles in the site’s database 
without first telling the company.

Gedmatch issued a privacy warning to its users and put in new controls to 
allow users to opt-in for their DNA to be included in police searches.

But users reported Sunday that those settings had changed without their 
permission, and that their DNA profiles were made available to law 
enforcement searches.

[...]

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