UK Biobank data of 500,000 volunteers put up for sale online

Chinese research institutions have reportedly offered for sale online medical data from around half a million UK Biobank volunteers, with the datasets appearing on trading platforms linked to China’s Alibaba Group.

The UK Minister for Technology, Ian Murray, told the House of Commons that the government had received a notification from a charitable organisation, noting that the data did not include direct identifiers such as names, addresses, or contact details, Caliber.Az reports, citing Sky News.

However, the minister acknowledged that it cannot be fully ruled out that individuals could still be identified.

The datasets included information on age, gender, date of birth, socioeconomic status, lifestyle, and biological markers.

Authorities said the data had been legally uploaded by three Chinese research institutions, but access has since been blocked.

An investigation into the circumstances is now underway.

UK Biobank Chief Executive Sir Rory Collins said the organisation takes data protection “extremely seriously.”

He added that the listing was swiftly removed with the involvement of both UK and Chinese authorities, and that there is no evidence that the data was actually sold.

He described the incident as a “clear breach of the contract” by the institutions involved.

Researcher access has been suspended, and operations of the research platform have been temporarily restricted.

UK Biobank is one of the world’s largest biomedical databases, widely used in research into cancer, dementia, and Parkinson’s disease.

By Bakhtiyar Abbasov