Cryptographic De-Identification of Indirect PI With Referential Integrity
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for de-identifying indirect personal identifiable information (PI) using cryptography often disrupt referential integrity, leading to resource wastage in restoring and maintaining data integrity.
Innovation Solution
A method involving a cryptographically secure generator to produce a random value combined with indirect PI using a hashing algorithm like SHA-512, generating de-identified data that requires knowledge of the original data, random value, and de-identified data for re-identification, thus preserving resource integrity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If existing cryptographic methods are used to de-identify indirect PI, then de-identification is achieved, but referential integrity is disrupted requiring resource-consuming remedial actions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by performing the hashing operation and generating the salt value before any data storage or processing occurs. The salt value is generated in advance and stored separately, then used during the de-identification process to transform the indirect PI. This preliminary preparation eliminates the need for subsequent remedial actions to restore referential integrity, as the hashing process inherently preserves the integrity through deterministic transformation while maintaining security.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a salt value as an intermediary element between the indirect PI and the de-identified data. This salt value is combined with the indirect PI through hashing to produce the de-identified result. The salt acts as a mediator that maintains referential integrity by ensuring that the same indirect PI always produces the same de-identified output, while still providing cryptographic security. This intermediary approach eliminates the need for resource-consuming integrity restoration operations.
2Reliability
If hashing operation is performed on combined data and random value, then de-identification security is improved, but processing time increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies copying by creating a de-identified version of the indirect PI through hashing, which serves as a substitute for the original data in subsequent processing operations. The hashed output is used wherever the original indirect PI would be needed, maintaining security while enabling efficient data processing. This copying approach allows the system to work with the de-identified data without repeatedly performing the time-consuming hashing operation, thus reducing overall processing time while maintaining protection against re-identification.
Data Source
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AI summary
In some implementations, a device may provide a data structure storing first data, wherein the first data indirectly identifies second data, and wherein the second data identifies a particular individual. The device may obtain, from the data structure, the first data. The device may generate a cryptographically random value using a secure generator. The device may combine the first data and the cryptographically random value to generate hashing input data. The device may perform, using a hashing algorithm, a hashing operation on the hashing input data to generate de-identified first data, wherein re-identification of the de-identified first data requires knowledge of at least the first data, the cryptographically random value, and the de-identified first data. The device may perform an action using the de-identified first data.