London (United Kingdom), 23 Apr. (LaPresse/AP) – The DNA and other confidential health data of 500,000 volunteers who took part in a British study have been put up for sale online in China, following a data breach on Monday. This was announced today by the British government. According to Technology Minister Ian Murray, the information from the database of UK Biobank – the name of the company that conducted the study – was found for sale on the Alibaba website. The breached data did not include names, addresses, contact details or telephone numbers. Murray added that the information had been legitimately downloaded by three research institutes in China, whose access to the database has now been revoked. The breach was an “unacceptable misuse” of data, the minister commented, and the government is working to understand how it could have happened. Thanking the Chinese government for its cooperation, Murray stated that no one had purchased the data and that it has now been removed.