Half a million Britons’ medical data were offered for sale on Alibaba in major UK Biobank breach

A breach affecting UK Biobank exposed medical data from 500,000 volunteers, with the information offered for sale on Alibaba, according to DataBreaches[.]Net. The post notes that data from half a million members, who volunteered their health information, was listed for sale on the Chinese e-commerce site and subsequently removed.

Technology Minister Ian Murray said the breach was an “unacceptable abuse” of data and that the government was informed on Monday, 29 April; the information did not include names, addresses or contact details. The Times adds that the UK Biobank holds de-identified data from volunteers recruited between 2006 and 2010, aged 40 to 69 at the time, and that listings appeared on three Alibaba pages, with no confirmed sales.

Government ministers acknowledged there was a large-scale data breach, with the Biobank operating independently from government and reportedly having had “extremely lax” security arrangements. According to The Independent, Murray credited cooperation with the Biobank, the Chinese government and Alibaba to remove the listings.