Atlas Biomed, which has places of work in London, has gone lacking.
A DNA-testing firm with alleged Russian hyperlinks has vanished with extremely delicate information of its clients, in response to a BBC report. The agency known as Atlas Biomed, which has places of work in London, used to supply insights into the genetic make-up of its clients in addition to their predisposition to sure sicknesses. However the firm seems to have gone off-grid with clients left in the dead of night and fearful in regards to the safety of their information which incorporates biometrics. The Info Commissioner’s Workplace (ICO) mentioned it was conscious of the incident and confirmed it had acquired a criticism in regards to the firm’s disappearance.
“Folks have the suitable to count on that organisations will deal with their private data securely and responsibly,” it mentioned in a press release.
Atlas Biomed’s web site is now not energetic and the cellphone quantity listed is useless as properly. The Instagram web page, with over 11,000 followers, confirmed the final submit dated March 2022.
“DO NOT ORDER – SCAM ALERT. They haven’t been energetic since June 2023. I ordered and despatched off samples in July and nonetheless nothing, and have since discovered quite a few accounts of individuals with the identical subject. Their e mail deal with now not works. No approach to contact them,” commented a netizen on the web page.
The corporate’s registered workplace is close to London’s Silicon Roundabout which is a major location for tech corporations. An organization registration agency based mostly within the constructing said that Atlas Biomed was their consumer and had legitimately used the deal with. Nonetheless, the agency refused to disclose additional particulars in regards to the lacking DNA-testing firm.
The Russian connection
The corporate could have disappeared however its hyperlinks to Russia have emerged. Though registered with Firms Home the place all UK-based companies are mandated to register, Biomed has not filed any accounts since December 2022. As of the final replace, it had listed eight official positions, of which 4 had resigned.
Apparently, two of the remaining officers had their deal with listed in Moscow, which matched with a Russian billionaire, who’s described as a now-resigned director of Atlas Biomed.
Two of the apparently remaining officers are listed on the identical deal with in Moscow – as is a Russian billionaire, who’s described as a now resigned director.
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Clients confused
Lisa Topping, a resident of Saffron Walden, Essex instructed the publication that she had despatched her saliva pattern to the corporate and paid $130 for a personalised genetic report. Though Ms Topping acquired her DNA profile and predisposition to sure illnesses, she was not in a position to entry the report on-line anymore, which she used to do sometimes.
“I do not know what another person might do with [the data] but it surely’s essentially the most private data… I do not understand how snug I really feel that they’ve simply disappeared,” Ms Topping mentioned.
There isn’t a clarification the place Atlas Biomed’s database of buyer DNA has ended up. Nonetheless, there is no such thing as a proof accessible up to now that it’s being misused.
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