Critical parameters for privacy preservation through anonymisation in social networks

Abstract

As social network data contain sensitive information, the need arises for privacy preservation of released social network data for which the most deployed technique is anonymisation. There are a number of anonymisation techniques which have been proposed for privacy preservation in social network data. Not all the anonymisation techniques have been able to provide the desired privacy as they ignore one or more critical parameters. The purpose of this paper is to propose the parameters for anonymisation of released social network data based on the cross-pollination of information related to anonymisation of social network data. Analysing the anonymisation techniques on these parameters would provide a clear understanding in a more realist dimension. These parameters would help the service provider of the social network for choosing the suitable anonymisation technique. These parameters would also help the future researchers to design or improve the anonymisation technique for privacy preservation in social network.