In early October 2023, it emerged that a bad actor had used stolen passwords to gain unauthorized access to 23andMe accounts. This has had some knock-on effects, and the situation with segment data has changed:
- 23andMe have removed access to ‘relatives in common’ (aka shared matches) and segment data
- Several other companies have restricted access to segment data on their site
Luckily we can still get segment data from everywhere except 23andMe (and AncestryDNA, where it was never available in the first place). But communication by the testing companies has been a bit patchy. I’ve therefore created the table below to summarize the current situation with regard to access to:
- Individual segment data (the segments you share with an individual match)
- Bulk segment data (a file containing all segments you share with all matches in that database)
I’ll endeavour to keep this post up to date as the situation changes
Updates
- August 2024: FamilyTreeDNA has restored access to segment and match files
- December 2023: 23andMe have published a longer article discussing what happened. There is still no indication of whether or not access to segment data will be restored.
| Company | Individual segments | Bulk data | Overall status | Notes |
| 23andMe | No | No | “Temporarily” removed | In October 2023 their site said: “As part of the ongoing security investigation, we have temporarily disabled some features within the DNA Relatives tool as an additional precaution to protect the privacy of our customers.” As of August 2024, this message is shortened to “We have temporarily disabled some features within the DNA Relatives tool as an additional precaution to protect your privacy.” |
| AncestryDNA | No | No | No access | AncestryDNA has never made segment data available |
| FamilyTreeDNA | Yes | Yes | Available | From November 2023 until August 2024, the links to download match and segment data were disabled. |
| Gedmatch | Yes | Yes | Available | |
| Geneanet | Yes | Yes | Available but only until Dec 20th 2023 | Alas, Geneanet announced today that it will be closing its DNA features down |
| Living DNA | Yes | No | Individual matches available | Living DNA launched segment data in July 2023 for individual matches but have not yet made a download of bulk match segments available |
| MyHeritage | Yes | No | Individual matches available | In October 2023, MyHeritage removed the link: – Export shared DNA segment info for DNA Matches You can still access individual segment data via – Advanced options > Download shared DNA info and the chromosome browser, but to do so you may need to have enabled two-factor authentication on your account. [this note updated Dec 2023] |
You can find more detailed information on where you can still find segment data in the help pages Where do you find the segment data? and How do you use the import function?
Further reading
- 23andme: Addressing Data Security Concerns
- Edison Williams: Update Regarding Family Tree DNA Services
- Electronic Frontier Foundation: What to Do If You’re Concerned About the 23andMe Breach
- Leah Larkin: The 23andMe Hack
- Roberta Estes: The 23andMe Data Exposure – New Info, Considerations and A Pause Strategy
- Roberta Estes: 23andMe: DNA Relatives, Connections, Event History Report and Other Security Tools
- Your DNA Guide: Ask the experts with Michelle Leonard
Contact info: @dnapainter / jonny@dnapainter.com