Government Computer News
To share is human
Digg
De.licio.us
Slashdot
TechnoratiIn this report
How anonymous data sharing works
SRD’s Anonymous Entity Resolution software lets agencies share data without revealing it. Here’s how:
1. Information comes from agencies’ existing databases in a variety of formats and with various fields.
2. SRD software preprocesses the data and coverts it to SRD’s Universal Message Format, which is based on Extensible Markup Language. It also intelligently formats the data to resolve differences. For ex- ample, Liz, Lizzy, Beth and Betsy are treated as Elizabeth.
3. Data is hashed through SRD’s Annamizer software, which turns the original records into unique, scrambled values.
4. The hashed code is secure and contains a key value, or signature, so that the hashing can’t be reversed or compromised.
5. SRD’s Resolver software, often run by a trusted third party, looks for matches in the hashed records. It also uses SRD’s Non-Obvious Relationship Awareness software to find indirect links between records.
6. If Resolver finds a match between records, it can au- tomatically send an encrypted alert based on user-defined rules.
Homeland Security to inject XML into DRM to assist in data sharing
Sharing data among government agencies is easier said than done. Many groups want or need to protect the confidentiality of their information, meaning they’d like a secure way of letting other agencies know what data they have without showing them the actual data.
Systems Research and Development of Las Vegas, a developer of identity recognition software, has come up with a scheme to let organizations share and compare data without compromising privacy.
SRD’s Anonymous Entity Resolution software, dubbed Anna, uses a hashing algorithm to create a unique identifier for each piece of personal data in a file. Once hashed, the data is unrecognizable except by software and can’t be cracked. Hashed identifiers from different databases can then be compared for matches without revealing the identity of the underlying individual.
“In the last two years we have seen the need for sharing more information while protecting privacy,” said John Slitz, chief executive officer of SRD. “This is a technique that allows us to look at large quantities of data and only evaluate that data that is common to both sets.”
The technology caught the eye of In-Q-Tel, the CIA’s technology investment incubator, when it was in prototype stage. The group partially funded development of the Anna technology, In-Q-Tel CEO Gilman Louie said.
Louie said homeland security programs depend on the ability of agencies to share data and use private-sector information securely, while assuring the public that privacy is not being compromised.
“Unless there is a technical solution to enable the policies, we are not going to get there,” he said. “In some places we’re at a logjam.”
He cited the discontinued Total Information Awareness program and the Computer Aided Passenger Prescreening System II, both of which fell victim to privacy concerns. “There is no perfect technology,” he said. “But this could be a critical enabling technology, providing a degree of comfort.”
Next-generation analysis
Anna builds on two previous SRD products: the Erik Identity Recognition Architecture, which standardizes names, cleans up personal data and puts it into a common format for comparison; and Non-Obvious Relationship Awareness (Nora), which looks for pieces of information that could link individuals, such as shared telephone numbers and addresses.
![1105 Government Information Group [happiness]](/images/1105logo_website.gif "Government Computer News [happiness]")
© 1996-2008 1105 Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
