In our blog we provide you with industry insights on privacy, anonymization, analytics and of course information about our solution Aircloak Insights.
November 21, 2019
In the field of Privacy Enhancing Technologies (or PrivTech), one truth is becoming increasingly apparent: there is no silver bullet in privacy approaches. Each data use case has to be considered separately. Typical requirements we discuss with customers are What analytical quality is needed? Is time to market for each use case a factor? What privacy protection is needed or … read more
September 23, 2019
“’Anonymized’ Data Can Be Anything But’” – Forbes, July 24, 2019 When the world media reported the results of a recent scientific paper on the ineffectiveness of data anonymization, it was anything but news. Already in 1981 the US computer scientist, Dorothy E. Denning, stated in one of her scientific papers on database security that when working with data it … read more
August 27, 2019
Building a useful analytics system with strong anonymity is difficult. It is an iterative process: ideas are generated, flaws are discovered, and new ideas emerge in response. Aircloak is dedicated to transparency. We openly publish our anonymization technology and encourage white-hat attacks on our system through our bounty program and free academic licenses. We allow our white-hat attackers to publish … read more
February 11, 2019
The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) states that anonymous data is not personal data, and therefore does not fall under the purview of GDPR. The GDPR, in Recital 26, defines anonymous as: “…information which does not relate to an identified or identifiable natural person or to personal data rendered anonymous in such a manner that the data subject … read more
January 31, 2019
No traffic jams, perfectly coordinated bus and tram timetables, no environmental pollution, less stress and a significantly improved quality of life. This is how we imagine the city of the future! In Smart Cities, specific challenges, especially in the areas of transport planning, energy efficiency and waste management, are solved with the help of data analysis. Mobility data of residents … read more
October 17, 2018
One of the two successful attacks from the first round of the Aircloak bounty program was from researchers Aloni Cohen and Kobbi Nissim from MIT and Georgetown University respectively. Our fix for the attack was deployed in Aircloak’s release 18.3 on July 27th. Aloni and Kobbi had asked Aircloak and myself not to reveal the details of the attack so … read more
September 4, 2018
LINC, the innovation lab of the French data protection authority CNIL, has been exploring the uses of anonymized data in projects like CabAnon. This project explores uses of the NYC taxi database for applications like planning new transportation services. The results, published the article “Can anonymized data still be useful”, demonstrate that in some cases anonymized data can be useful. … read more