Confidential medical data belonging to half-a-million UK citizens has been leaked from UK Biobank and put up for sale on the Chinese e-commerce site Alibaba. The UK Biobank holds unidentifiable biological samples and health data of 500,000 volunteers to advance medical research.
Data Breach Confirmed
Technology minister Ian Murray announced today that there has been a large-scale data breach resulting in highly confidential information being stolen. The data was found for sale on three separate listings on Alibaba.
'At least one of these three datasets appeared to contain data from all 500,000 UK Biobank volunteers,' Murray told the Commons. 'Additional listings offer support for applying for legitimate access to UK Biobank or analytical support for researchers who already have access to the data.'
Government Reassurance
Murray sought to reassure the House, stating that Biobank had advised that the data did not contain participants' names, addresses, contact details, or telephone numbers. He added that the Government had spoken to the vendor and believed no purchases were made from the three listings before they were removed.
Security Concerns
However, according to reporting by The Times, Government sources have slammed the Biobank's security arrangements, labelling them 'extremely lax.' This is a breaking story, more follows.
