White Papers

Only a handful of experts exist around the world who are qualified to manually de-identify data. This is because de-identification is a complex and challenging field that requires highly specific knowledge. Simply removing the names and other types of direct identifiers from a dataset is insufficient to achieve de-identification.

Data breaches and re-identification attacks compromise the personal privacy of individuals and both are on the rise. Re-identification results when a record is correctly tied to the person behind that data, even if the data was thought to have been made anonymous.

Critics who question the value of de-identification often overlook the quality of the de-identification process. The issue is not whether there is value in de-identification but whether de-identification has been done properly so that data is truly anonymous. Not all de-identification practices are created equal.