Summary-Based Privacy Security for Benchmarking Data
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Solution Overview
Problem
In a software as a service platform, tenants face challenges in sharing data for benchmarking purposes while maintaining data privacy, as third parties may require more detailed information than tenants are comfortable with, leading to reluctance in using the service.
Innovation Solution
A system for summary-based privacy security that allows tenants to opt-in to benchmark categories with specified privacy levels, summarizing their data before sharing it with a commingled database, ensuring only summarized data is used for benchmarking calculations, and obfuscating results to maintain privacy.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If tenants provide detailed data to third parties for benchmarking, then the quality and completeness of benchmark data improves, but tenant data privacy and security deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the necessary aggregated benchmark metrics from detailed tenant data, removing individual tenant identifiers and sensitive details. The system takes out specific data elements (aggregated statistics) while leaving the detailed source data secured in the multitenant environment, thus improving benchmark data quality without compromising tenant privacy.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary benchmarking service layer between tenants and third-party benchmarking providers. This intermediary receives detailed data requests, processes them through secure aggregation functions, and returns only anonymized benchmark results. The intermediary acts as a mediator that enables benchmarking while protecting tenant data privacy through controlled data exposure.
2Measurement precision
If tenants share detailed data with third parties, then the accuracy of benchmark comparisons improves, but tenant reluctance to use the service increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the data sharing process into distinct layers: detailed tenant data remains segmented and secured in individual tenant environments, while only aggregated benchmark metrics are shared externally. This segmentation allows accurate benchmarking through comprehensive data aggregation while maintaining tenant control and reducing participation barriers.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements self-service benchmarking where tenants can independently configure their benchmarking participation, select which metrics to share, and control their privacy settings without requiring direct interaction with third-party benchmarking providers. This self-service approach reduces tenant reluctance by providing control and transparency while maintaining benchmark accuracy.
3Loss of information
If third parties require detailed tenant data for benchmarking, then the comprehensiveness of analysis improves, but data security risks increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary aggregation and anonymization of tenant data within the secure multitenant environment before any data leaves the system. The data is pre-processed to combine multiple tenant records into aggregated statistics, removing identifying information in advance. This preliminary action ensures analysis completeness through comprehensive data pooling while maintaining security by never exposing detailed individual records to third parties.
Data Source
AI summary
A system for summary based privacy security for benchmarks including an interface and a processor. The interface is configured to receive an indication to opt-in to a benchmark category from a tenant, where opting-in includes a privacy level. The interface is also configured to provide a benchmark data request to a tenant system, where the benchmark data request includes a requirement to summarize tenant data for the benchmark data request compatible with the privacy level. The processor is configured to combine summarized tenant data with prior commingled benchmark data to update a commingled benchmark database, where the commingled benchmark database includes data from a plurality of tenants. The processor is also configured to determine a benchmark compatible with the privacy level using the commingled benchmark database.