Measuring Anonymized Data Utility through Correlation Indicator

Yongki Hong, Gihyuk Ko, Heedong Yang, Chanho Ryu, Seung Hwan Ryu

http://doi.org/10.5626/JOK.2023.50.12.1163

As we transition into an artificial intelligence-driven society, data collection and utilization are actively progressing. Consequently, currently there are emerging technologies and privacy models to convert original data into anonymized data, while ensuring it does not violate privacy guidelines. Notably, privacy models including k-anonymity, l-diversity, and t-closeness are actively being used. Depending on the purpose of the data, the situation, and the degree of privacy, it"s crucial to choose the appropriate models and parameters. Ideally, the best scenario would be maximizing data utility while meeting privacy conditions. This process is called Privacy-Preserving Data Publishing (PPDP). To derive this ideal scenario, it is essential to consider both utility and privacy indicators. This paper introduces a new utility indicator, the Effect Size Average Cost, which can assist privacy administrators to efficiently create anonymized data. This indicator pertains to the correlation change between quasi-identifiers and sensitive attributes. In this study, we conducted experiments to compute and compare this indicator with tables where k-anonymity, l-diversity, and t-closeness were applied respectively. The results identified significant differences in the Effect Size Average Costs for each case, indicating the potential of this indicator as a valid basis for determining which privacy model to adopt.