Medical Data Of 500,000 UK Volunteers Listed For Sale On Chinese Website, Government Says

The medical data of around half a million volunteers has been listed for sale on a Chinese e-commerce website, the government has confirmed.

Technology Minister Ian Murray told MPs the information linked to the UK Biobank health research database was found advertised for sale on Alibaba Group platforms.

UK Biobank is a major health research resource used by scientists to help improve understanding and treatment of diseases including dementia, cancer and Parkinson’s.

Mr Murray said the charity had reported that the data “had been advertised for sale by several sellers on Alibaba’s e-commerce platforms in China”.

He added that while the datasets did not include names, addresses, contact details or phone numbers, they did contain information such as age, gender, month and year of birth, socio-economic background, lifestyle factors and biological measurements.

He told Parliament:

“The government has spoken to the vendor today, and they did not believe that there were any purchases from the three listings before they were taken down.”

However, he said it could not be guaranteed that individuals could not potentially be re-identified from the information.

UK Biobank has stressed that all data provided is “de-identified”, meaning it does not include directly identifying personal details.

Professor Sir Rory Collins, chief executive of UK Biobank, said the organisation takes data protection “extremely seriously” and confirmed the listings were removed quickly with support from UK and Chinese authorities.

He added that access for those involved in the breach has now been suspended.