CryptoNumerics has released a new tool, Re-Identify, to help companies test and measure whether their datasets protect the identity of users and customers.
Re-Identify was created to tackle the problem of conventional anonymization techniques being ineffective for protecting against re-identification of individuals in datasets.
““Current approaches to de-identify data such as masking, tokenization, and aggregation can leave data unprotected.”
According to legislation like European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), companies using consumer data, such as medical records, bank loans, or subscription churn, to build solutions must ensure that the data is anonymous. However, if individuals can be re-identified through big data and emerging technology solutions, it puts companies in violation of these laws, resulting in fines.
“Current approaches to de-identify data such as masking, tokenization, and aggregation can leave data unprotected or without analytical value,” said Monica Holboke, co-founder, CEO, and chief science officer of CryptoNumerics.
Re-Identify allows companies to input their data and determine the risk of re-identification. The tool is based on CryptoNumerics’ CN-Protect product, which helps enterprises create privacy protected datasets. After assessing their risk using Re-Identify, companies can get a personalized report that includes areas where CN-Protect can help.
“Data privacy is a board-level concern today, but many companies are using outdated anonymization approaches, leaving their data exposed to re-identification,” said Hassan Bhatti, co-founder of CryptoNumerics and head of business development. “Re-identify lets companies understand this outstanding risk of re-identification of their data so they can proactively improve their privacy stack.”
CN-Insights, CryptoNumerics’ other product allowing companies to build statistical and machine learning models, is already being used by enterprises like Munich Re, one of the largest re-insurers in the world.
Recently, CryptoNumerics was named one of Canadian Innovation Exchange‘s top 20 most innovative startups in the country. In March 2019, CryptoNumerics raised a $3.5 million seed round with 11.2 Capital, an early stage VC firm based in San Francisco focused on investing in enterprise software security.