Biobank data incident caused by 'a few bad apples', boss says
UK Biobank's boss, Professor Sir Rory Collins, said a 'few bad apples' were behind the incident where medical data of 500,000 participants was listed for sale on a Chinese website. The data, which included de-identified information such as age, gender, and medical records, was swiftly removed before any purchase took place.
UK Biobank's online research platform, which contains de-identified medical information about its volunteers, was compromised when data belonging to 500,000 participants was listed for sale on a Chinese website. Professor Sir Rory Collins, the boss of UK Biobank, attributed the incident to 'a few bad apples' and stated that the involved institutions have been banned from the platform. The data, collected from volunteers aged 40-69 between 2006 and 2010, included intimate details such as whole body scans, DNA sequences, and medical records. The UK government and Chinese authorities worked together to remove the listings before any data was sold. UK Biobank has temporarily suspended access to its online research platform and referred itself to the UK's data watchdog, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), which is now making enquiries.
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