Privacy-Preserving Badge Visibility in Security Information Sharing
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
In security information sharing platforms, the anonymity of users is compromised when their contributions, such as security indicators and threat intelligence, are linked to their identities, leading to potential vulnerabilities and negative consequences like regulatory scrutiny and reputation damage.
Innovation Solution
A privacy preservation system that compares profiles and profile elements, identifies predictive badges or tags, and modifies their visibility to obfuscate user identities by recommending substitute profile elements that are more prevalent, thereby maintaining anonymity while encouraging contributions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If user contributions are linked to their identities, then user accountability and contribution tracking are improved, but user anonymity is compromised leading to potential vulnerabilities and reputation damage
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments user identity information from contribution data by introducing intermediary profile elements (badges, tags) that represent user skills and achievements without directly identifying the user. This segmentation allows contribution tracking while preserving anonymity by breaking the direct link between user identity and contributions.
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces intermediary profile elements such as badges and tags that act as mediators between user identity and contributions. These intermediaries represent user capabilities and achievement levels without revealing actual user identities, thus enabling contribution attribution while maintaining anonymity through the intermediary layer.
2Ease of operation
If user anonymity is preserved through obfuscation, then user safety and encouragement to contribute are improved, but the ability to trace contributions to specific users is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The system changes the parameters of user representation by transforming identifiable user information into non-identifiable profile elements (badges, tags) with different attributes. These parameter changes allow contributions to be attributed to skill levels and achievement categories rather than specific users, encouraging participation while maintaining traceability through aggregated metrics.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates copies of user information in the form of badges and tags that replicate user capabilities and achievements without containing actual identifying information. These copies serve as proxies for user identity, enabling contribution tracking based on replicated attributes rather than original identifying data.
3Productivity
If profile elements are made public to recognize user achievements, then user motivation is improved, but user identity prediction becomes possible compromising anonymity
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies partial action by selectively making only certain profile elements (badges, tags) public while keeping actual user identities private. This partial disclosure provides enough information to motivate users through recognition of achievements while withholding the excessive information that would enable identity prediction, thus balancing motivation with anonymity preservation.
Data Source
AI summary
In some examples, a method of privacy preservation in a security information sharing platform includes comparing, by a system comprising a hardware processor in the security information sharing platform that enables sharing of security information among a plurality of users, a set of profiles wherein each profile of the set of profiles is associated with an individual user; identifying, by the system based on the comparing, that a badge associated with a particular profile of the set of profiles is predictive of an identity of the individual user, the badge based on a contribution of security information by the individual user to the security information sharing platform, and the badge comprising user attributes associated with the individual user; and modifying, by the system based on the identifying, a visibility of the badge within the security information sharing platform.