The British government is investigating how health data volunteered to the UK Biobank charity ended up for sale on China's Alibaba e-commerce platform, with at least one listing offering data from all 500,000 volunteers. Minister Ian Murray told Parliament on Thursday that the charity alerted the government on Monday, and the listings have since been removed with no purchases believed to have occurred.

Murray thanked the Chinese government for its "speed and seriousness" in helping remove the listings. UK Biobank temporarily suspended all access to its research platform as a precaution, and CEO Rory Collins described the leak as "a clear breach of contract," adding that the three research institutions identified as the source had their access revoked immediately. The charity also referred itself to the Information Commissioner's Office for review.

Conservative MP Lincoln Jopp called the incident "very grave" and questioned whether Chinese state institutions or those from Russia, Iran, or North Korea had accessed the data. Murray confirmed that the three banned institutions were Chinese, but noted that Russia, Iran, and North Korea were not accredited. He emphasized that the issue was not country-specific, citing Yale University's previous suspension for a data breach.

Murray stated that the data did not contain names, addresses, or phone numbers, but included gender, age, month and year of birth, socioeconomic status, lifestyle habits, sleep, diet, mental health, and health outcomes. He said the likelihood of re-identification was low but not zero. The Chinese authorities and Alibaba are reportedly cooperating to prevent further listings.

UK Biobank is one of the world's largest biobanks, collecting anonymized medical data and samples to support research. The incident has raised concerns about data security and the vetting of research institutions, with calls for stricter controls on access to sensitive health information.

Source: www.dw.com