When personal identifiers are replaced by pseudonyms (artificial identifiers) we refer to the pseudonymization process. This does not remove all personal data but removes most of the ability to link individual identities to that data. This is a common approach to tradeoff data utility and privacy.
What Is Pseudonymization, and How Does It Work?
This involves replacing identity: Personal identifiers such as name, address or social security number is swapped with unique pseudonyms.
Data Linkage: Legitimate links between the original IDs and pseudonyms are established. They are usually stored somewhere with separate and high security.
Benefits of Pseudonymization
Protection of Identity: Pseudonymization eliminates direct links to the identity of an individual, reducing risk of identity theft and unauthorized access to personal information.
Data Sharing: Individual data can be shared for research or analysis without breaching the privacy of individual data subjects, if it is pseudonymized.
Regulatory Compliance: Pseudonymization can assist organizations in meeting data privacy regulations, such as GDPR and CCPA.
Challenges and Limitations
Re-identification Risk: Although all data that is pseudonymized carries a lower risk of re-identification, this is not an absolute risk mitigation. Only with more information can pseudonyms be attached to real people.
Datapoints Utility: If data needs to be combined to perform the analysis, pseudonymization may reduce the strength of the data.
Complexity of Implementation: Pseudonymization is complex and not straightforward to implement.
Pseudonymization — Best Practices
Robust Pseudonym Creation: Create a pseudonym that is random and hard to guess or crack easily.
Secure storage of mappings: Keep the mapping between original identifiers and pseudonyms in a secure manner.
Periodic Review: Pseudonymization practices should be examined periodically to meet changing threats and regulatory needs.
Reduce Processing and Keep Data as Short as Possible: Minimizing the retention period of pseudonymized data can reduce the risk of re-identification.
Conclusion
Pseudonymization is an excellent opportunity to balance the need for data-driven insights with preserving privacy. Techniques, Benefits — Acquire Primo Insight on — By Getting Well-Acquainted with Solutions
