LONDON (AP) — DNA and other confidential health data from 500,000 people who volunteered for a massive U.K. health study were offered for sale online in China following a data breach this week, the British government said Thursday.
The information from the U.K. Biobank database was found listed for sale on the website Alibaba, but names, addresses, contact details or telephone numbers were not included, the technology minister, Ian Murray, told lawmakers.
Murray said the information had been legitimately downloaded by three research institutions in China, who have now had access revoked. Monday’s breach was an “unacceptable abuse” of the data and the government is working to figure out how it happened, Murray said.
Thanking the Chinese government for its cooperation, Murray said no purchases had been made and that the data has now been taken down.
U.K. Biobank is the world’s most comprehensive dataset of biological, health and lifestyle information, and has been used to achieve improvements in detection and treatment of dementia, cancers and Parkinson’s.
Apologizing to participants, U.K. Biobank chief executive Rory Collins said the charity had temporarily closed access to the research platform and that additional security measures will be put in place.
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