Keeping medical data private but available to all
Massive increases in the size, variety and complexity of databases associated with the life sciences have highlighted the challenges of data analysis in the information age. The abundance of data is growing steadily at an exponential rate. The content ranges from genetic data for various organisms to brain image information on patients. Such data resources are found all over the World Wide Web in widely different formats and quality levels. Much of the information handled at each step of the research process is private. This adds to the challenges this abundance presents as access is made more difficult and often hinders research collaboration. New methodology is required for protecting data resources and making their information more widely available. This is the principle goal of the EU-funded 'Biosec: Security and privacy in life sciences data' (Biosec) project, which is part of the Marie Curie action on 'International outgoing fellowships for career development'. Research in life sciences typically requires combining various data sources to find patterns, similarities and unusual occurrences. It also requires processing by tools deployed on powerful platforms. Therefore, sharing of data among institutions and researchers is essential for progress in the life sciences. However, this gives rise to many security and privacy issues. The main method of safeguarding confidentiality is to make the data anonymous, but this involves removing information from it. The project is working to ensure provision of data with the maximum level of confidentiality but a minimum loss of information. The project’s objectives included introducing novel or adapting existing techniques for addressing the concerns raised. It would also apply these techniques in real-world applications. So far, a review of the state-of-the-art techniques for ensuring security and privacy in databases has been carried out. An in-depth analysis of the data cycles in some common applications has also been accomplished. Combining these results, the project produced a technical report on the relative concerns for data management and dissemination. On completion of the project, methods and guidelines will be provided for ensuring privacy and security in life science databases.
