Technology minister Ian Murray has confirmed that the personal details of 500,000 members of the UK Biobank health data project were listed for sale on the Chinese e-commerce platform Alibaba.
Mr Murray told MPs that the charity which runs the Biobank informed the Government of the data breach on Monday. The information offered for sale did not include names, addresses, contact details or telephone numbers.
The Biobank is a collection of health data used to improve the detection and treatment of diseases such as dementia, cancers and Parkinson's. The minister stated that three listings were identified, with at least one appearing to contain data from all 500,000 volunteers.
Mr Murray added that no purchases were made from the listings, which have since been removed. He thanked the Chinese Government for their cooperation in taking down the advertisements.
