Privacy-Preserving Data Mining

Privacy-preserving data mining (PPDM) refers to the area of data mining that seeks to safeguard sensitive information from unsolicited or unsanctioned disclosure. Most traditional data mining techniques analyze and model the data set statistically, in aggregated form, while privacy preservation is primarily concerned with protecting against disclosure of individual data records. This domain separation points to the technical feasibility of PPDM. Historically, issues related to PPDM were first studied by the national statistical agencies interested in collecting private social and economical data, such as census and tax records, and making it available for analysis by public servants, companies, and researchers. Building accurate socioeconomical models is vital for business planning and public policy. Yet, there is no way of knowing in advance what models may be needed, nor is it feasible for the statistical agency to perform all data processing for everyone, playing the role of a trusted third party. Instead, the agency provides the data in a sanitized form that allows statistical processing and protects the privacy of individual records, solving a problem known as privacypreserving data publishing. For a survey of work in statistical databases, see Adam and Wortmann (1989) and Willenborg and de Waal (2001).