Data obfuscation system, method, and computer implementation of data obfuscation for secret databases
First Claim
1. A method of obfuscating data in which output values of a data query are obfuscated in a repeatable manner, via the use of an Obfuscating Function (OF) while maintaining an amount of obfuscation within a range in which the obfuscated output values provide to a user information of a first level of granularity, the repeatable manner comprising generating a same value of obfuscated data for each data query having a same value of input data, wherein the OF uses a transformation based upon a method of weighted regression, including perturbing values to obtain a dependent variable for the weighted regression and based upon addition of random errors to the output values of the data query to form a dependent variable y for the weighted regression, and using a non-obfuscated data value as an independent variable.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A data obfuscation system, method, and computer implementation via software or hardware allows a legitimate user to gain access via a query to data of sufficient granularity to be useful while maintaining the confidentiality of sensitive information about individual records. Output values of a data request are obfuscated in a repeatable manner, via the use of an Obfuscating Function (OF), while maintaining the amount of obfuscation within a range so that the transformed values provide to a user information of a prescribed level of granularity. The data obfuscating system and method is particularly applicable to databases. The data obfuscation engine may be implemented in hardware and/or software within a stand alone or distributed environment.
33 Citations
28 Claims
- 1. A method of obfuscating data in which output values of a data query are obfuscated in a repeatable manner, via the use of an Obfuscating Function (OF) while maintaining an amount of obfuscation within a range in which the obfuscated output values provide to a user information of a first level of granularity, the repeatable manner comprising generating a same value of obfuscated data for each data query having a same value of input data, wherein the OF uses a transformation based upon a method of weighted regression, including perturbing values to obtain a dependent variable for the weighted regression and based upon addition of random errors to the output values of the data query to form a dependent variable y for the weighted regression, and using a non-obfuscated data value as an independent variable.
- 18. A method of representing data having a first level of granularity and a second level of granularity, coarser than the first level of granularity, wherein the data is converted from the first level of granularity to the second level of granularity according to a rule using a pseudo random number seeding function which seeds a random number generator with input values, the output of the random number generator either rounded up or rounded down, or results shifted by a rounded amount up or down.
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24. A computer implemented obfuscation system comprising:
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at least one processor; and memory storing data instructions that when executed by the at least one processor cause the at least one processor to; run a query on data in a secret database to produce output data; and obfuscate the output data using a repeatable obfuscation function to return obfuscated data in response to the query, wherein the repeatable obfuscation function uses a transformation used in mathematical modeling, based upon the method of weighted regression including perturbing values to obtain a dependent variable for the weighted regression and based upon addition of random errors to true values to form a dependent variable y for weighted regression, and using a non-obfuscated data value as an independent variable. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28)
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Specification