Using only a computer, an Internet connection, and publicly
accessible online resources, a team of Whitehead Institute researchers has been
able to identify nearly 50 individuals who had submitted personal genetic
material as participants in genomic studies.
Intent on conducting an exercise in “vulnerability
research”—a common practice in the field of information security—the team took
a multi-step approach to prove that under certain circumstances, the full names
and identities of genomic research participants can be determined, even when
their genetic information is held in databases in de-identified form