В Хьюстоне выдан ордер на обыск сотрудников онкоцентра MD Anderson по подозрению в краже биомедицинских данных

HOUSTON – A search warrant filed in Harris County alleges a UT MD Anderson Cancer Center instructor transferred more than 3 terabytes of biomedical research data to a personal external hard drive after being placed on administrative leave late last month, prompting an investigation into possible theft of trade secrets. Law enforcement executed the warrant Aug. 17 at an apartment in UT Health Houston’s university housing. Records show investigators were authorized to seize computers, phones, external hard drives and other electronic devices and conduct forensic examinations for evidence of alleged trade-secret theft or other criminal activity. KPRC 2 News is not naming the employees targeted in the investigation because no charges have been filed. The employees, a married couple, had been under criminal investigation and an internal compliance investigation for allegations of running a freight forwarding business out of their home, which may have included counterfeit goods, according to records, and would have been a violation of their H-1B visa restrictions. The visa is a temporary, employer-sponsored work visa for people working in specialized fields and requires a bachelor’s degree or higher. According to the affidavit, one of the employees connected a personal hard drive to an MD Anderson laptop on July 31. Investigators say the employee requested a limited USB exception to connect a medical device and download about 500 megabytes of data. Instead, the affidavit alleges the employee copied files from a UT MD Anderson shared drive and transferred more than 3 terabytes of data to the external drive. The listed files included biomedical research folders, genomic research data, manuscripts, presentations, experiment files and documents related to federal research grants. The affidavit says the employee first connected the drive at about 12:35 p.m. and transferred files before ejecting it at 12:41 p.m. Investigators say the drive was connected again at 5:23 p.m., when another group of files was transferred. The warrant also states that the two UT MD Anderson instructors from the Molecular Oncology and Experimental Radiation Oncology departments were placed on paid administrative leave July 31, the same day the alleged transfers occurred. The document does not say either person was fired or dismissed. UT MD Anderson did not provide an update on their current employment status on Wednesday. In the search warrant, police described their behavior as a typical pattern for employees facing dismissal and losing their visa to possibly abscond with intellectual property. Investigators also cited a document allegedly reviewed by one of the employees that contained questions about leaving the United States to return to China while the investigation was pending. The case involves the University of Texas Police Department, which has not responded to a request for comment at the time of this writing. Seized devices are expected to be transferred to forensic specialists for further examination. The warrant does not indicate that the research data was sold, shared or transferred outside the United States, and in a statement Wednesday afternoon, UT MD Anderson shared the following: “UT MD Anderson is actively working with relevant authorities, and steps already have been taken to protect the institution’s data.”