Database Systems: Inferential Security

Sallie Keller-McNulty and Elizabeth A. Unger

Abstract:
The problems of data security and confidentiality have been studied by computer scientists and statisticians. The areas of emphasis within these disciplines on data security are different but not disjoint. One of the main differences is how one views data release. Statisticians have focused on aggregate data release and on single static files of microdata records. Computer scientists have focused on data release through sequential queries to a database. An initial integrating factor of the two fields is the concept of information stored as a federated database. This paper synthesizes the research done in both of these disciplines and provides an extensive review of the literature. Some basic definitions integrating the two fields are given and data security and confidentiality methodologies studied in both disciplines is discussed.

Keywords:
Data security; database security; disclosure; compromise.