A novel approach of privacy-preserving data sharing system through data-tagging with role-based access control

Abstract

PurposeThis paper aims to design a secure and seamless system that ensures quick sharing of health-care data to improve the privacy of sensitive health-care data, the efficiency of health-care infrastructure, effective treatment given to patients and encourage the development of new health-care technologies by researchers. These objectives are achieved through the proposed system, a “privacy-aware data tagging system using role-based access control for health-care data.”Design/methodology/approachHealth-care data must be stored and shared in such a manner that the privacy of the patient is maintained. The method proposed, uses data tags to classify health-care data into various color codes which signify the sensitivity of data. It makes use of the ARX tool to anonymize raw health-care data and uses role-based access control as a means of ensuring only authenticated persons can access the data.FindingsThe system integrates the tagging and anonymizing of health-care data coupled with robust access control policies into one architecture. The paper discusses the proposed architecture, describes the algorithm used to tag health-care data, analyzes the metrics of the anonymized data against various attacks and devises a mathematical model for role-based access control.Originality/valueThe paper integrates three disparate topics – data tagging, anonymization and role-based access policies into one seamless architecture. Codifying health-care data into different tags based on International Classification of Diseases 10th Revision (ICD-10) codes and applying varying levels of anonymization for each data tag along with role-based access policies is unique to the system and also ensures the usability of data for research.