Role-based Anonymization

• US 20150186674A1
• Filed: 01/02/2014
• Published: 07/02/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 01/02/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent SA (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent SA (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Vyas, Avinash, Zhu, Benwen, Bornard, Florent
• Granted Patent: US 9,489,538 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6254 by anonymising data, e.g. decorrelating personal data from the owner's identification
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0421 Anonymous communication, i.e. the party's identifiers are hidden from the other party or parties, e.g. using an anonymizer
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/02 Protecting privacy or anonymity, e.g. protecting personally identifiable information [PII]

Abstract

A data anonymization system provides role-based anonymization for data requesters. The system applies a base anonymization function to subscriber data related to at least one subscriber of a service provider to produce base anonymized subscriber data. Upon receiving a request for the subscriber data from a data requester, a role assigned to that data requester is determined to identify a custom anonymization function to be applied to the subscriber data in order to produce custom anonymized subscriber data for the data requester.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

an interface for receiving subscriber data related to at least one subscriber of a service provider, the interface further for receiving a request for the subscriber data from a data requester and for providing custom anonymized subscriber data to the data requester;

a processor for determining a role assigned to the data requester, the role specifying a custom anonymization function to be applied to the subscriber data, the processor further for applying a base anonymization function to the subscriber data to produce base anonymized subscriber data and for applying the custom anonymization function to the base anonymized subscriber data to produce the custom anonymized subscriber data; and

a memory for storing the base anonymized subscriber data and a privacy policy specifying the base anonymization function and the role.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

the base anonymization function and the custom anonymization function are a same type of anonymization;

the base anonymization function provides a base level of anonymization of the subscriber data; and

the custom anonymization function provides an additional level of anonymization of the subscriber data over the base level.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the custom anonymization function is a different type of anonymization than the base anonymization function.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the custom anonymization function is a de-anonymization function that de-anonymizes the base anonymized subscriber data to produce de-anonymized subscriber data as the custom anonymized subscriber data.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the de-anonymized subscriber data is the subscriber data.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the custom anonymization function specifies that the base anonymized subscriber data is the custom anonymized subscriber data.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein at least one of the base anonymization function and the custom anonymization function is a composite anonymization function including two or more types of data anonymization.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the base anonymization function and the custom anonymization function each include one or more of an encryption function, a decryption function, a k-anonymity function and a data masking function.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the role includes a type of anonymity and one or more parameters for the type of anonymity for the custom anonymization function.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to authenticate the data requester prior to providing the custom anonymized subscriber data to the data requester.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the processor is configured to use a token provided by the data requester with the request for the subscriber data to authenticate the data requester.

12. A non-transitory memory device having accessible therefrom a set of instructions interpretable by at least one processor, the set of instructions configured for causing the processor to carry out operations for:

applying a base anonymization function to subscriber data related to at least one subscriber of a service provider to produce base anonymized subscriber data;

determining a role assigned to a data requester requesting the subscriber data, the role specifying a custom anonymization function to be applied to the subscriber data;

applying the custom anonymization function to the base anonymized subscriber data to produce custom anonymized subscriber data; and

providing the custom anonymized subscriber data to the data requester.

13. The memory of claim 12, wherein:

the base anonymization function and the custom anonymization function are a same type of anonymization;

the base anonymization function provides a base level of anonymization of the subscriber data; and

the custom anonymization function provides an additional level of anonymization of the subscriber data over the base level.

14. The memory of claim 12, wherein the custom anonymization function is a different type of anonymization than the base anonymization function.

15. The memory of claim 12, wherein the custom anonymization function is a de-anonymization function that de-anonymizes the base anonymized subscriber data to produce de-anonymized subscriber data as the custom anonymized subscriber data.

16. The memory of claim 12, wherein the custom anonymization function specifies that the base anonymized subscriber data is the custom anonymized subscriber data.

17. The memory of claim 12, wherein at least one of the base anonymization function and the custom anonymization function is a composite anonymization function including two or more types of data anonymization.

18. The memory of claim 12, wherein the base anonymization function and the custom anonymization function each include one or more of an encryption function, a decryption function, a k-anonymity function and a data masking function.

19. The memory of claim 12, wherein the set of instructions further causes the processor to carry out operations for:

authenticating the data requester prior to providing the custom anonymized subscriber data to the data requester.

20. A method for providing role-based anonymization, the method comprising:

applying a base anonymization function to subscriber data related to at least one subscriber of a service provider to produce base anonymized subscriber data;

determining a role assigned to a data requester requesting the subscriber data, the role specifying a custom anonymization function to be applied to the subscriber data;

applying the custom anonymization function to the base anonymized subscriber data to produce custom anonymized subscriber data; and

providing the custom anonymized subscriber data to the data requester.