An anonymous reader quotes a report from BuzzFeed News: On July 19, genealogy enthusiasts who use the website GEDmatch to upload their DNA information and find relatives to fill in their family trees got an unpleasant surprise. Suddenly, more than a million DNA profiles that had been hidden from cops using the site to find partial matches to crime scene DNA…
Tag: GEDMatch
DNA site GEDmatch sold to firm helping US police solve crime
One of the world’s biggest genealogy websites has been bought by a company that provides law enforcement agencies with genomic sequencing technology for forensic DNA work Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2226791-dna-site-gedmatch-sold-to-firm-helping-us-police-solve-crime/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
‘Game-Changer’ Warrant Let Detective Search Genetic Database
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The New York Times: Last week, a Florida detective announced at a police convention that he had obtained a warrant to penetrate GEDmatch and search its full database of nearly one million users. Legal experts said that this appeared to be the first time a judge had approved such a warrant, and that the…
DNA Databases Are a National Security Leak Waiting To Happen
schwit1 writes: A private DNA ancestry database that’s been used by police to catch criminals is a security risk from which a nation-state could steal DNA data on a million Americans, according to security researchers. Security flaws in the service, called GEDmatch, not only risk exposing people’s genetic health information but could let an adversary such as China or Russia create…
Privacy attack on DNA website reveals 93 per cent of a person’s data
One of the world’s biggest genetic genealogy websites, GEDmatch, has a vulnerability that means people’s data could be accessed without their permission Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2221972-privacy-attack-on-dna-website-reveals-93-per-cent-of-a-persons-data/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
Genetic privacy attack could reveal DNA secrets from genealogy sites
Researchers say they have serious concerns about the genetic privacy of users of genetic genealogy services including MyHeritage, GEDMatch and FamilyTreeDNA Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2221138-genetic-privacy-attack-could-reveal-dna-secrets-from-genealogy-sites/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
Police Use of DNA Leads To Backlash, Policy Change For GEDmatch
Police investigators have used popular online DNA databases to solve at least 50 open murder and rape cases, reports the Associated Press. But now, “complaints about invasion of privacy have produced a backlash, leading the Florida-based database known as GEDmatch to change its policies.”
The nonprofit website’s previous practice was to permit police to use its database only to solve homicides and…
Relatives’ DNA Leads To Arrest — For a 1976 Double Murder
“You gotta be kidding me,” said a Wisconsin man, when police arrested his 82-year-old next-door neighbor “old Ray” — the guy who would occasionally come over to fix his lawnmower. An anonymous reader quotes the Associated Press:
Ray Vannieuwenhoven was his next-door neighbor — a helpful, 82-year-old handyman with a gravelly voice and a loud, distinctive laugh, the kind of guy who…
DNA database opts a million people out from police searches
GEDMatch, a site which has helped solve around 25 cold criminal cases, has changed its terms and conditions to opt its users out from searches by law enforcement Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2203857-dna-database-opts-a-million-people-out-from-police-searches/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
Sooner or Later Your Cousin’s DNA Is Going to Solve a Murder
The Golden State Killer case was just the start. Hundreds of cold cases are hot again thanks to a new genealogy technique. The price may be everyone’s genetic privacy. Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/25/us/golden-state-killer-dna.html?partner=rss&emc=rss…