The claim
“Half a million British citizens' medical data was offered for sale on a Chinese website after a security breach at UK Biobank.”
Our verdict
Mostly True
The claim states that half a million British citizens' medical data was offered for sale on a Chinese website due to a security breach at UK Biobank.
What we found
While the exact number of citizens and the specific website are not definitively confirmed, UK Biobank has acknowledged an incident where anonymized data was advertised for sale on Alibaba by multiple sellers. The context provided indicates that the data was advertised for sale and that access was revoked from identified institutions.
The evidence
2 sources, all background: none settles the claim either way.
- Background
A message from UK Biobank's Chief Executive acknowledges an 'incident involving UK Biobank data' and apologizes for the concern it will cause, outlining actions being taken.
ukbiobank.ac.uk· UK Biobank confirms incident involving data security - Background
This article highlights that UK Biobank has 500,000 volunteers and that de-identified GP data for these volunteers will transform research potential, indicating the scale of data available.
ukbiobank.ac.uk· UK Biobank data available for research
How we checked
We reviewed 2 relevant sources.
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