De-Identification 301: Understanding Your Likely Attackers

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.

Re-identification attacks occur because an attacker has the skills, resources and the motivation to do so. Motivations can vary but are usually the result of curiosity or a desire for personal gain. Demonstration attacks happen when a researcher or journalist aims to show that a dataset has been insufficiently de-identified and wants to prove that re-identification is possible.

Malicious re-identification attacks have increased 21%. Understanding the motivation behind the three types of re-identification attack means you can better secure your data against them.