Data Service for Genomic Privacy via Policy Enforcement
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing access models for genomic and sensitive data do not adequately address the intransitivity of trust, leading to potential privacy breaches and ethical concerns, as they rely on users to enforce complex policies without sufficient technical capabilities.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a data service that provides stronger security and privacy functionality, enabling policy-based governance and secure access to sensitive data through a framework of trusted cloud services, application programming interfaces (APIs), and sandboxed execution environments.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If researchers are given unfettered access to genomic data under trust-based models, then data availability for research is improved, but privacy protection and security control deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a data service as an intermediary between researchers and genomic data. This service enforces access policies, controls data usage, and monitors compliance automatically. The intermediary layer allows researchers to access data for legitimate purposes while preventing privacy breaches through technical enforcement of policies, thus resolving the contradiction between data availability and privacy protection.
2Adaptability or versatility
If complex privacy policies are enforced through user discretion, then flexibility in data use is improved, but reliability of policy enforcement deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements automated policy enforcement mechanisms that operate without requiring user discretion. The data service automatically monitors data access, enforces usage policies, and detects violations. This self-service approach to policy enforcement maintains flexibility in legitimate data use while ensuring reliable enforcement through automated technical controls rather than relying on user judgment.
3Ease of operation
If users are responsible for enforcing privacy policies, then ease of operation is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the complex policy enforcement functionality from the user's responsibility and places it within the data service infrastructure. Users simply request data access through standard interfaces, while the embedded policy enforcement mechanisms handle the complex verification and monitoring automatically. This extraction reduces the operational burden on users while managing the system complexity within the service layer.
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for facilitating trusted handling of genomic and/or other sensitive information. Certain embodiments may use a virtualized execution environment to execute code and/or programs that wish to access and/or otherwise use genomic and/or other sensitive information. In some embodiments, data requests from the code and/or programs may be routed through a transparent data access proxy configured to transform requests and/or associated responses to protect the integrity of the genomic and/or other sensitive information.