Genealogy reports left exposed by Vitagene included customers’ full names alongside dates of birth and gene-based health information. Above, a stylized illustration of DNA.

9 July 2019, Los Angeles Times

DNA testing service Vitagene Inc. left thousands of client health reports exposed online for years, the kind of incident that privacy advocates have warned about…Read more >>> 

An astonishing panel of world-leading researchers and business leaders in personal genomes revealed the titanic issues facing the genomics sector at the Wellcome Genome Campus this month.

26 April 2019, Cambridge Independant

The public talk was titled ‘Sharing your personal genome: from genetic testing to ancestry’, the first in a new series organised by Wellcome Genome Campus Advanced Courses & Scientific Conferences…Read more >>> 

We have compiled healthcare data breach statistics from October 2009 when the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights first started publishing summaries of healthcare data breaches on its website. Machine learning has great potential to transform disease diagnosis and detection, but it’s been held back by patients’ reluctance to give up access to sensitive information.

11 May 2019, MIT Technology Review

In 2017, Google quietly published a blog post about a new approach to machine learning. Unlike the standard method, which requires the data to be centralized in one place, the new one could learn from a series of data sources distributed across multiple devices…Read more >>> 

There are huge benefits to sequencing as many genomes as we can—every genome sequenced moves us a step closer to unlocking life-saving treatments

3 May 2019, BMJ Opinion

NHS England is to offer free genomic sequencing for patients with serious genetic conditions, including cancer. Healthy citizens will also be able to have their genomes sequenced under a new scheme announced in January…Read more >>> 

Preventing abuse of technology depends upon strong protections for individuals – not just for those who consent to the use of their data, and for those who do not.

1 May 2019, Fast Company

There has been an increasing public debate in the last few years around the use of data by states and tech companies…Read more >>> 

TWENTY YEARS AGO, you had about a 1 in 6 billion chance of knowing someone who’d had their DNA sequenced. Today, almost every American can name someone who’s had some form of genetic testing. 

1 May 2019, HIPAA Journal

The rise of DNA data has legal experts increasingly concerned that the United States is not effectively protecting consumers from the many privacy risks…Read more >>> 

Investigators had reportedly used an ancestry database to track the man down

26 April 2019, Science News

speculation was that either AncestryDNA or 23andMe, two popular direct-to-consumer testing companies, had turned over customer data to the police. Both companies denied involvement…Read more >>> 

As DNA testing gallops ahead, doctors face wrenching questions about legal risks, protecting patients’ privacy, and the quality of the genetic information they’re providing—and they need help.

26 April 2019, Science Mag

“The genome is static, but our ability to analyze it and interpret it is undergoing dramatic change,” said James Evans, a geneticist at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. “We don’t understand most of these variants…Read more >>> 

We have compiled healthcare data breach statistics from October 2009 when the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights first started publishing summaries of healthcare data breaches on its website.

1 May 2019, HIPAA Journal

Our healthcare data breach statistics clearly show there has been an upward trend in data breaches over the past 9 years…Read more >>> 

Amid privacy concerns and dramatic growth in genetic-testing products

12 April 2019, WLRN

the Florida House on Thursday passed a bill that would ban life-insurance and long-term care insurance companies from using genetic testing information in policy decisions…Read more >>>