Privacy-Preserving Entity Resolution with Encrypted Match Data

Solution Overview

Problem

Existing database systems face challenges in augmenting incomplete or fragmented databases due to cybersecurity and privacy concerns, as sharing personally identifiable information is risky and existing encryption methods allow full database copying.

Innovation Solution

An entity-resolution server correlates data objects based on common fields, generates variant data objects, encrypts and hashes them, and transmits these to client systems for secure augmentation, ensuring privacy by allowing only indexed access.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Loss of information

If database entries are transmitted over a network connection to augment databases, then database completeness and accuracy are improved, but cybersecurity risks increase due to potential interception or unauthorized access to personally identifiable information

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvedatabase completenessVSAvoidcybersecurity risks

Core Design Contradiction:

Loss of informationVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies preliminary action by encrypting database entries before transmission. The encryption is performed in advance on the source system, transforming personally identifiable information into encrypted form before it leaves the source database. This ensures that even if intercepted during network transmission, the data remains protected and unusable without the decryption key.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The patent extracts only the necessary encrypted data elements for augmentation purposes while leaving the complete unencrypted database on the source system. The target system receives and processes only specific encrypted entries needed for validation or augmentation, rather than receiving the entire source database, thereby reducing exposure risk.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

2Reliability

If a database is shared with another entity for validation or augmentation, then database robustness is improved, but control over personally identifiable information is lost

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvedatabase robustnessVSAvoidinformation control

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies preliminary action by encrypting database entries before transmission. The encryption is performed in advance on the source system, transforming personally identifiable information into encrypted form before it leaves the source database. This ensures that even if intercepted during network transmission, the data remains protected and unusable without the decryption key.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The patent extracts only the necessary encrypted data elements for augmentation purposes while leaving the complete unencrypted database on the source system. The target system receives and processes only specific encrypted entries needed for validation or augmentation, rather than receiving the entire source database, thereby reducing exposure risk.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

3Object-affected harmful factors

If encryption is applied to protect personally identifiable information during transmission, then cybersecurity is improved, but existing encryption methods still allow full database copying

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvedata protectionVSAvoidcopy protection

Core Design Contradiction:

Object-affected harmful factorsVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies preliminary action by encrypting database entries before transmission. The encryption is performed in advance on the source system, transforming personally identifiable information into encrypted form before it leaves the source database. This ensures that even if intercepted during network transmission, the data remains protected and unusable without the decryption key.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The patent uses encrypted copies of database entries instead of the original unencrypted data. The target system works with encrypted copies that cannot be easily decrypted or copied for unauthorized use. This allows the target system to have a working copy for validation purposes while the source system retains the only usable copy, preventing unauthorized replication of the actual personal information.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #26Copying

Data Source

PatentUS12400036B2Facilitating entity resolution, keying, and search match without transmitting personally identifiable information in the clear

Publication Date: 2025.08.26 EQUIFAX INC

AI summary

In some aspects, an entity-resolution computing system for entity resolution is provided. The entity-resolution computing system includes an entity-resolution server configured for correlating data objects from an identity data repository that contains account or transaction data for entities based on the data objects including a common portion of the account or transaction data. The entity-resolution server updates the identity data repository to include an entity identifier that links the data objects and indicates that the data objects refer to a common entity. The entity-resolution server creates an entity-resolution data structure having the data objects with the entity identifier and a new variant data object containing a modified version of account or transaction data that match the common entity. The entity-resolution server encrypts the entity-resolution data structure and causes the encrypted entity-resolution data structure to be transmitted to a client computing system for use in augmenting client data.