0000000000391816
AUTHOR
Gilles Trouessin
Combining hashing and enciphering algorithms for epidemiological analysis of gathered data.
Summary Objectives: Compiling individual records coming from different sources is necessary for multi-center studies. Legal aspects can be satisfied by implementing anonymization procedures. When using these procedures with a different key for each study it becomes almost impossible to link records from separate data collections. Methods: The originality of the method relies on the way the combination of hashing and enciphering techniques is performed: like in asymmetric encryption, two keys are used but the private key depends on the patient’s identity. Results: The combination of hashing and enciphering techniques provides a great improvement in the overall security of the proposed scheme…
Chaînage de bases de données anonymisées pour les études épidémiologiques multicentriques nationales et internationales : proposition d'un algorithme cryptographique
Background: Compiling individual records coming from different sources is very important for multicenter epidemiological studies; however, European directives and other national legislation concerning nominal data processing must be respected. These legal aspects can be satisfied by implementing mechanisms that allow anonymization of patient data (such as hashing techniques). Moreover, for security reasons, official recommendations suggest using different cryptographic keys in combination with a cryptographic hash function for each study. Unfortunately, this type of anonymization procedure is in contradiction with common requirements in public health and biomedical research because it becom…