Gene scanner pays $9.8 million to get feds off its back in security flap

Illumina agreed to a $9.8M settlement with the U.S. government over allegations it sold DNA sequencing systems to federal agencies while knowingly shipping devices with significant cybersecurity flaws—like hardcoded credentials, elevated privileges, and insecure firmware—that could compromise sensitive genomic data; the complaint cites recalls and ongoing unpatched issues but does not allege confirmed data exfiltration.