Hackers accessed 23andMe user data, company says
Ancestry and genetics company 23andMe confirmed Monday that “threat actors” used about 14,000 accounts to access the ancestry data of 6.9 million people, as first reported by TechCrunch.
The hackers were able to access the accounts by using usernames and passwords from other compromised websites that were the same on 23andMe, according to the company.
“We do not have any indication that there has been a breach or data security incident within our systems, or that 23andMe was the source of the account credentials used in these attacks,” a company spokesperson said in an email.
FTC probing ExxonMobil deal to buy Texas oil firm
WASHINGTON – Federal regulators are investigating ExxonMobil’s $60 billion deal to acquire a Texas oil company in what would be one of the largest mergers in the energy industry in two decades, according to securities filings.
The Federal Trade Commission, which enforces federal antitrust law, has asked for additional information from the companies about Exxon’s proposed acquisition of Pioneer Natural Resources. The request is a step the agency takes when reviewing whether a merger could be anticompetitive under U.S. law. Pioneer disclosed the request in a filing Tuesday.
The investigation comes after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and 22 other Democratic senators urged the FTC to investigate the Exxon-Pioneer deal and a separate acquisition by oil giant Chevron, a proposed $53 billion purchase of Hess Corp. Both deals are among the largest petroleum deals in U.S. history and could violate antitrust law, the Democrats said. There’s no public indication of a federal inquiry into the Chevron merger.
Schumer said Tuesday he asked the FTC to “take a hard look at Exxon’s blockbuster merger and block it if it would lead to higher prices, hurt competition or force families to pay more at the pump. I’m glad the FTC is taking this step.’’
US wants ships to anchor farther from Calif. pipelines
Federal officials on Tuesday recommended increasing the distance from undersea pipelines that vessels are allowed to anchor in Southern California, citing a 2021 oil spill they said was caused by ships whose anchors were dragged across a pipeline after a storm.
The leak occurred in a ruptured pipeline owned by Houston-based Amplify Energy. National Transportation Safety Board officials concluded damage to the pipeline had been caused months earlier when a cold front brought high winds and seas to the Southern California coast, causing two container vessels that were anchored offshore to drag their anchors across the area where the pipeline was located.
The October 2021 spill of 25,000 gallons sent blobs of crude washing ashore in Huntington Beach and nearby communities, shuttered beaches and fisheries, coated birds with oil and threatened area wetlands.
The Beijing and MSC Danit – each measuring more than 1,100 feet long – had displaced and damaged the pipeline in January 2021, while a strike from the Danit’s anchor caused the eventual crude release, officials said.