Privacy Enhancing Computation
Today we have traversed into an information age where data is the new gold mine. The existence of this digital world is fueled by data. However, this paradigm shift has given rise to ethical and juridical issues where the right to privacy is threatened with the boundless free flow of information across the internet.
Several studies related to privacy concerns indicate an increasing rate of individuals deterring from online activities. The drastic fallout of WhatsApp users due to Facebook’s poor privacy reputation is an evident proof for the fear of privacy.
Fortunately, the attention brought in by privacy enhancing technologies has induced the confidence in individuals to stay anonymous and reinforce their privacy and security borders. With remote collaboration being an integral part of the new normal, Privacy Enhancing Computations has enabled to unleash the potential of data more than ever.
Well, if you are wondering of what privacy enhancing computation is, it can be simply defined as the assembly of diverse technologies that fortify privacy and protect data from unauthorized access and violations. It thrives to provide a trusted environment to process data securely. Gartner, the world’s leading research company has predicted that by 2025, half of the large organization would have adapted privacy enhancing computation for processing data.
Privacy Enhancing Computation Technologies
Let us dive into some of the Privacy Enhancing Technologies and Techniques that have boosted the users’ confidence in maintaining their privacy online.
Cryptographic Algorithms
Homomorphic Encryption
This technology uses a public encryption mechanism integrating an algebraic system to encrypt data allowing only authorized individuals with the relative private key to access it. This enables organizations to work on your encrypted data without accessing its sensitive contents.
Multi Party Computation
This is a cryptographic protocol which allows the analysis of data across multiple parties while preventing individuals from viewing the data thus preventing the violation of privacy.
Differential Privacy
Differential privacy is an algorithm that enables the analysis of information statistics as a general dataset, hiding the individual information. Thus the derived results will essentially make the inference of the general results to private individual information as well, thus maintaining privacy.
Data Masking Techniques
Pseudonym
This data masking technique replaces fields that hold private information of individuals with frictional data. It also ensures that processed personal data cannot be attributed to a specific user without combining other additional information.
Data Minimization
This is a principle which practices the limited collection and processing of data to only the required specific purpose.
Communication Anonymizers
Communication Anonymizers access the internet on behalf of individuals by replacing userr’s identity with disposable-one time untraceable identities thus preventing the disclosure of their private information.
Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Algorithms
Synthetic Data Encryption
This is a technique through which information is generated artificially without using real world data. Several advanced algorithms are used for this purpose to ensure that the synthetic data created mirrors original data but does not reveal real information of individuals.
Federated Learning
This is a machine learning technique that is used to train algorithms across variety of decentralized devices and servers without exchanging data thus enabling the process of gaining experience from vast data without violating privacy.
Privacy Enhancing Computation trends
Today, Privacy Enhancing Technologies have started kicking off their solutions in various industrial Domains protecting data from violation of privacy and simultaneously enabling access to data for advancements. Following are some of the domains that can be positively impacted with the implementation of Privacy Enhancing Techniques.
Business
The success of businesses depend on their dominance and access to data. But violating privacy concerns in the process can drastically affect their business reputation and will lose the trust of their customers as well. So integrating Privacy Enhancement Technologies can reinforce their stability and success.
Finances
Finance related industries demand and need the optimum level of security for their data vaults. They are burdened with the huge responsibility of maintain the confidentiality and protection of the data from unauthorized access. Thus the implementation of mechanisms to enhance their privacy is of significant concern.
Healthcare
Digitization has made a significant influence in healthcare system, advancing the health sector for the best. Thus their electronic database houses a lot of sensitive information which can violated the ethics and privacy of the patients who trust them, when the data is shared around. Implementing Privacy Enhancing Technologies can consolidate the security of their data and avoid unnecessary problems.
Digital Applications
The digital world is one the most vulnerable channels that is often exposed to the breach of privacy concerns. Often web and mobile applications are maintained by third parties. Privacy enhancing computation methods can significantly influence the protection of private information by limiting the access to these data.
In Conclusion
It is clearly evident that the swift advancement of technology rooted on data harvest has infiltrated the privacy of private information raising concerns on trusting digital technological activities. Yet the time for change has come, as professed privacy enhancing computation technologies embark on a journey to set things right and protect the privacy of users. For privacy is not an option, it shouldn’t be the price have to pay for getting on the internet. It is time to welcome a new era of security and trust on the digital land.
References
https://dataprot.net/statistics/internet-privacy-statistics/
https://blog.decentriq.com/privacy-enhancing-computation.../
https://www.datanami.com/.../unlocking-the.../
https://www.theverge.com/.../whatsapp-privacy-policy...
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