Affiliations: University of Maribor, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Smetanova 17, Si‐2000 Maribor, Slovenia, e‐mail: {bostjan.brumen, izidor.golob, welzer, i.rozman}@uni‐mb.si | University of Maribor, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Smetanova 17, Si‐2000 Maribor, Slovenia, e‐mail: marjan.druzovec@uni‐mb.si | Tampere University of Technology, Pori Technology and Economics, PO BOX 300, Fi‐28101 Pori, Finland, e‐mail: hj@pori.tut.fi
Abstract: In the paper, we present an algorithm that can be applied to protect data before a data mining process takes place. The data mining, a part of the knowledge discovery process, is mainly about building models from data. We address the following question: can we protect the data and still allow the data modelling process to take place? We consider the case where the distributions of original data values are preserved while the values themselves change, so that the resulting model is equivalent to the one built with original data. The presented formal approach is especially useful when the knowledge discovery process is outsourced. The application of the algorithm is demonstrated through an example.
Keywords: data protection algorithm, disclosure control, data mining, knowledge discovery, data security
Journal: Informatica, vol. 14, no. 3, pp. 277-288, 2003
