23andme says that 15% of customers asked to remove their genetic data since bankruptcy Techcrunch

23andme’s Interim -Chief Executive Joseph Sels subsection said on Tuesday that 1.9 million people, or about 15% of its customer base, removed their genetic data from the company’s servers, because it applied for bankruptcy protection in March.

Sels advocation spoke A hearingDuring which legislators investigated the sale of the company after an earlier bankruptcy auction. The bankruptcy aroused that the data from millions of Americans who used 23 Enme could be in the hands of an unscrupulous buyer, as a result of which customers ask the company to remove their data.

Pharmaceutical Gigantic Regeneron won the auction approved by the court in May and offered $ 256 million for 23andme and its banks or customers DNA and genetic data. Regeneron said it would use the 23andMe data to help and dedicate the discovery of new medicines to maintain the privacy practices of 23andMe.

A federal bankruptcy court is expected to consider the Bod of Regeneron on 23andme later in June.

The bankruptcy of 23andme comes one year after it had experienced a month-long data breach that exposed the sensitive personal and genetics data of 6.9 million customers. The company blamed the data breach to its customers for not using multi-factor authentication, instead of recognizing its own failures to secure the accounts of customers, or the inability to detect the infringement of months later.

Also on Tuesday, more than two dozen states, including Florida, New York and Pennsylvania, 23andMe complained to challenge the sale of the private data of its customers. The States claim that the company cannot sell the data of its 15 million customers without their explicit permission.

Techcrunch has a short guide for removing your 23andMe data.