Anonymization System for Encrypted Data Analysis
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current anonymization methods face challenges in efficiently anonymizing encrypted data without decryption, particularly in cloud and M2M services, where data holders need to balance privacy protection and data usability, and existing solutions either require decryption or compromise security by storing unanonymized data.
Innovation Solution
An anonymization system comprising encryption, anonymization, and decryption apparatuses that anonymize encrypted data without decryption, using homomorphic encryption methods to generate encrypted anonymized data that can be decrypted for analysis, ensuring privacy and security.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If anonymization processing is applied to encrypted data without decryption, then privacy protection is improved, but data usability for analysis deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a trusted third-party anonymization service as an intermediary between the data holder and data analyzer. This service receives encrypted data, performs anonymization processing without decryption, and returns anonymized encrypted data. The intermediary enables both privacy protection and data usability by operating in the encrypted domain while performing useful anonymization transformations.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the traditional mechanical approach of decrypting data for anonymization with a cryptographic substitution approach. Instead of converting encrypted data to plaintext and then anonymizing, the system performs anonymization operations directly on the encrypted data using cryptographic techniques, thereby maintaining encryption throughout the process while enabling useful processing.
2Reliability
If encryption processing is applied to personal data, then security is improved, but ability to analyze data deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies anonymization processing as a preliminary action before decryption and analysis. By performing anonymization on the encrypted data first, the system ensures that even if decryption occurs later, the data has already been transformed to protect privacy. This preliminary anonymization step enables subsequent analysis while maintaining security guarantees.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the parameters of the encrypted data through anonymization operations without changing its encrypted state. The system transforms values within the encrypted domain, modifying statistical properties and individual identifiers while maintaining the cryptographic encryption. This allows the data to remain secure while becoming suitable for analysis.
3Productivity
If personal data is provided to external analyzers, then analysis capability is improved, but privacy protection risk increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an external anonymization service as a trusted intermediary that the data holder does not need to trust with raw personal data. The data holder sends encrypted data to this intermediary, which performs anonymization and returns results. This intermediary approach enables analysis capability while reducing privacy risk, as the intermediary only handles encrypted data and cannot access original personal identifiers.
Data Source
AI summary
According to one embodiment, there is provided an anonymization system including at least one encryption apparatus, an anonymization apparatus, and a decryption apparatus. The encryption apparatus store personal data including one or more values for each item, and generates encrypted data from the personal data by encrypting the one or more values for each item included in the personal data. The anonymization apparatus generates encrypted anonymized data from the encrypted data without decryption by anonymizing one or more values for at least a portion of the items of the encrypted data. The decryption apparatus generates anonymized data from the encrypted anonymized data by decrypting the encrypted anonymized data.