Verifiable Confidential Data Removal via Transformation Signatures
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional methods for removing confidential information from data before transferring it to a testing environment often use 'random' values that are perceptible as authentic, making it difficult to verify if the information has been successfully removed.
Innovation Solution
A technique that replaces confidential information with values derived from a transformation function, allowing for the verification of its removal by checking for a digital signature, ensuring the data is suitable for testing while maintaining authenticity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If 'random' values that are perceptible as authentic are used to replace confidential information, then the data maintains authenticity for testing purposes, but it becomes difficult to verify if the confidential information has been successfully removed
Solution Approach 1:
A digital signature mechanism is introduced as an intermediary between the replacement values and the verification process. The transformation function embeds a digital signature within the replacement value, allowing verification without exposing the original confidential information. This mediator enables trustless verification that the data has been properly transformed while maintaining authenticity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transforms the replacement values through a mathematical transformation function that changes their parameters. The function takes the original confidential value, applies a transformation (such as hashing or encryption), and produces a replacement value that contains a digital signature. This parameter change ensures the replacement is mathematically linked to the original without revealing it, enabling verification while maintaining authenticity.
2Difficulty of detecting and measuring
If transformation functions with digital signatures are used to replace confidential information, then verification of removal becomes possible, but the complexity of the data processing increases
Solution Approach 1:
The transformation function is designed to be self-verifying through embedded digital signatures. The replacement value contains within itself the means for verification, eliminating the need for external verification systems or additional infrastructure. The system serves itself by incorporating the verification mechanism directly into the data transformation process.
Solution Approach 2:
The transformation function serves multiple functions simultaneously: it replaces confidential information, maintains data authenticity, and enables verification. This multi-functional approach consolidates what would otherwise require separate systems into a single unified process, reducing overall system complexity despite the advanced mathematics involved.
3Productivity
If conventional random replacement is used, then processing is simple and fast, but time and resources are wasted on ineffective testing due to inability to verify removal
Solution Approach 1:
The digital signature verification capability is built into the data replacement process itself, performing verification准备工作 in advance. By embedding the verification mechanism during the initial transformation, the system eliminates the need for separate verification steps later, preventing time waste on ineffective testing while maintaining processing efficiency.
Data Source
AI summary
A determination can be made that an item of confidential information has been removed from a record. A determination can be made that the record has the item of confidential information. The item of confidential information can be represented by an original value. A replacement value can be calculated. The replacement value can be a value of a transformation function applied to the original value. The replacement value can be testable for an existence of a digital signature, the digital signature to be derived from the replacement value. The record, in which the original value has been replaced by the replacement value can be used for a test. The test can be of a characteristic of an application. An ability to derive the digital signature from the replacement value can be an indication that the item of confidential information has been removed from the field.