Secure, multi-level access to obfuscated data for analytics

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11416633-B2
Application number	US-201916278028-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 15, 2019
Priority date	Feb 15, 2019
Publication date	Aug 16, 2022
Grant date	Aug 16, 2022

Abstract

In a computer-implemented method for providing obfuscated data to users, first, a user request to access data is received; then, an authorization level associated with the request received is identified. Next, obfuscated data is accessed in a protected enclave, which data corresponds to the request received. The data accessed has been obfuscated with an obfuscation algorithm that yields a level of obfuscation compatible with the authorization level identified. Finally, the obfuscated data accessed is provided to the user, from the protected enclave. Related systems and computer program products are also disclosed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method for providing obfuscated data to users, the method comprising
receiving a request to access data from a user;
identifying an authorization level associated with the request received;
in a protected enclave, accessing obfuscated data corresponding to the request received, wherein the data accessed have been obfuscated with an obfuscation algorithm yielding a level of obfuscation that is compatible with the authorization level identified, and
providing, from the protected enclave, the obfuscated data accessed to the user,
wherein
the protected enclave is in data communication with a first database storing non-obfuscated data, in encrypted form, and is in data communication with a second database storing obfuscated data, in encrypted form,
wherein
accessing the obfuscated data comprises, in the protected enclave,
checking whether the data as requested in the request received is already available in the second database,
if the data as requested in the request received is already available in the second database, then
obtaining, from the second database, encrypted obfuscated data corresponding to the requested data, and
decrypting the encrypted, obfuscated data obtained, so as to be able to subsequently provide the decrypted obfuscated data to the user,
else, obtaining, from the first database, encrypted data corresponding to data as requested in the request received,
decrypting the encrypted data obtained, and
obfuscating the decrypted data using said obfuscation algorithm.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises
prior to providing the obfuscated data, encrypting the obfuscated data accessed with a user key, in the protected enclave, and
providing the user key to the user, in addition to the encrypted obfuscated data.

3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein
the method further comprises providing, from the protected enclave, an encrypted version of the user key to the user, in addition to a plain version of the user key.

4. The method according to claim 2 , wherein
the protected enclave is in data communication with a key management system and the method further comprises generating, at said key management system, the user key used to subsequently encrypt the obfuscated data.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein
the method further comprises continually encrypting data, in a protected enclave, and continually storing the resulting encrypted data on the first database.

6. The method according to claim 5 , wherein
the first database is a data lake.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein
the method further comprises encrypting, in the protected enclave, the obfuscated data with a management key, and storing the accordingly encrypted, obfuscated data on the second database.

8. The method according to claim 7 , wherein
the protected enclave is in data communication with a key management system and the method further comprises generating, at said key management system, the management key used to encrypt the obfuscated data.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein
the request received specifies a given level of obfuscation; and
said obfuscated data are accessed only if said given level of obfuscation is compatible with the authorization level identified.

10. The method according to claim 1 , wherein
the request received further specifies a goal to be achieved with the data referred to in the request; and
the obfuscated data accessed comprises data that has been obfuscated with an obfuscation algorithm selected in accordance with said goal, provided that the resulting level of obfuscation is compatible with the authorization level identified.

11. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the request received further specifies an obfuscation algorithm; and the obfuscated data accessed comprises data obfuscated with the obfuscation algorithm specified, and the method further comprises selecting the level of obfuscation produced by the algorithm, so as for this level of obfuscation to be compatible with the authorization level identified.

12. The method according to claim 1 , wherein
said obfuscation algorithm relies on one or more of: a naive anonymization, a K-anonymity, a differential privacy, a homomorphic-encryption, data aggregation, and data sampling.

13. The method according to claim 1 , wherein
the method further comprises, after having provided the obfuscated data accessed to the user, performing analytics based on the obfuscated data provided.

14. A computerized system comprising:
a request processing module;
a first database storing non-obfuscated data, in encrypted form;
a second database storing non-obfuscated data, in encrypted form; and
a protected enclave, which is in data communication with the first database and with the second database,
wherein
the request processing module is configured to:
receive a user request to access data;
identify an authorization level associated with a user request received;
in response to the user request, cause the protected enclave to:
obfuscate data with one or more obfuscation algorithms, the one or more obfuscation algorithms yielding different levels of obfuscation, and
access obfuscated data corresponding to a user request, wherein the data are obfuscated with one or more of the obfuscation algorithms, so as to yield a level of obfuscation that is compatible with an authorization level identified,
wherein accessing the obfuscated data comprises:
checking whether the data as requested in the request received is already available in the second database,
if the data as requested in the request received is already available in the second database, then
obtaining, from the second database, encrypted obfuscated data corresponding to the requested data, and
decrypting the encrypted obfuscated data obtained, so as to be able to subsequently provide the decrypted obfuscated data to the user,
else,
obtaining, from the first database, encrypted data corresponding to data as requested in the request received,
decrypting the encrypted data obtained, and
obfuscating the decrypted data using said obfuscation algorithm; and

in response to the user request, provide to the user the obfuscated data accessed via the protected enclave.

15. The computerized system according to claim 14 , wherein
the request processing module is further configured to
cause the protected enclave to encrypt obfuscated data that the protected enclave accesses with a user key, and to
provide, in response to a user request, such a user key to the user in addition to encrypted obfuscated data.

16. The computerized system according to claim 15 , wherein
the system further comprises a key management system adapted to generate such a user key.

17. A computer program product for providing obfuscated data to users, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by one or more processors, to cause said one or more processors to:
receive a request to access data from a user;
identify an authorization level associated with the request received;
via a protected enclave, access obfuscated data corresponding to the request received, wherein the data accessed have been obfuscated with an obfuscation algorithm yielding a level of obfuscation that is compatible with the authorization level identified,
wherein accessing the obfuscated data comprises
checking whether the data as

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Schmatz Martin
• Rameshan Navaneeth
• Sagmeister Patricia M
• Chen Yiyu
• Gusat Mitch

Classifications

• G06F21/6245 Primary

  Protecting personal data, e.g. for financial or medical purposes · CPC title

• H04L9/008 Primary

  involving homomorphic encryption · CPC title

• H04L9/0897

  involving additional devices, e.g. trusted platform module [TPM], smartcard or USB · CPC title

• H04L9/088

  Usage controlling of secret information, e.g. techniques for restricting cryptographic keys to pre-authorized uses, different access levels, validity of crypto-period, different key- or password length, or different strong and weak cryptographic algorithms (network architectures or network communication protocols for using time-dependent keys in a packet data network H04L63/068) · CPC title

• H04L9/0894

  Escrow, recovery or storing of secret information, e.g. secret key escrow or cryptographic key storage · CPC title