UK Biobank hack: Medical data of 500,000 Britons stolen, put for sale on Alibaba
The Biobank was set up in 2006 to advance medical research and help scientists globally to have access to use its data
Published April 23, 2026
Half a million Britons' medical data was stolen and put on sale on Alibaba, revealed by Britain's technology minister, Ian Murray, before the Commons.
The UK government was informed about the data breach on Monday, April 20, 2026.
Murray told the Commons on Thursday, April 23, that “On Monday, the 20th of April the UK Biobank charity informed the Governemt they had identified their data had been advertised for sale by several sellers on Alibaba’s e-commerce platforms in China.”
The minister continued, “Biobank told us that three listings that appear to sell Biobank participation data had been identified. At least one of these three datasets appeared to contain data from all 500,000 UK Biobank volunteers.”
Murray while assuring the house that the data breach didn’t impact the personal confidential information of citizens.
He added, “I want to reassure the House up front, however, that Biobank have advised that this data did not contain participants' names, address, contact details or telephone numbers.”
For context, UK Biobank stores a vast database that contains genetic, biological, and health data from half a million Britons.
The Biobank was set up in 2006 to advance medical research and help scientists globally to have access to use its data.
However, the data didn’t contain personal information, and was only aimed for research purposes that were seen as being for the public good.
The data carries the age groups between 40 and 69 years old.
The data was used to track their long-term health and enable researchers to understand, prevent and treat serious medical conditions such as cancer, diabetes, and dementia.
