Confidential UK medical data put up for sale on Chinese website
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London: Confidential medical information from the UK Biobank charity, covering around 500,000 volunteer participants, was offered for sale online in China, the British government informed Parliament on Thursday.
UK Technology Minister Ian Murray told the House of Commons that the data had been listed for sale on the Alibaba e-commerce platform. He said the government acted swiftly with the charity, the Chinese government, and Alibaba to ensure all three listings were removed after the breach was detected on Monday.
“I want to thank the Chinese government for the speed and seriousness with which they worked with us to help remove these listings and ongoing work to remove any further listings,” Murray said.
He added that the UK Biobank had revoked access for the research institutions identified as the source of the data being listed online. The government has also asked the charity to temporarily suspend further access to its database until technical safeguards are introduced to prevent such downloads in future.
“I can confirm to the House that this pause is now in place,” he said.
The UK Biobank is a non-profit charity independent of the government, which collects health data donated by volunteers and shares it globally with researchers for medical studies. Its work supports research into heart disease, cancer, dementia, Parkinson’s disease, COVID-19 immunity, and early disease detection.
Murray stressed that the data did not contain personal identifiers such as names, addresses, contact details, or telephone numbers. He also said there was no evidence that any purchases were made before the listings were taken down.
UK Biobank has referred itself to the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office and is investigating the breach urgently.
Professor Sir Rory Collins, CEO and Principal Investigator of UK Biobank, said the organisation had received reassurance that Alibaba swiftly removed the listings with support from both the UK and Chinese governments before any sales took place.
He confirmed that the breach violated contracts signed by academic institutions, leading to the suspension of access for those involved. He also reassured participants that all data remains de-identified and does not include personal information such as names, addresses, dates of birth, or NHS numbers.
The UK government said it is taking the incident “extremely seriously” and will soon issue new guidance on controlling data from research studies.
With PTI inputs