Databases Reference
In-Depth Information
17
Hippocratic Databases: Current Capabilities
and Future Trends
Tyrone Grandison
1
, Christopher Johnson
2
, and Jerry Kiernan
1
1
IBM Almaden Research Center, 650 Harry Road, San Jose, CA 95120
{
tyroneg,jkiernan
}
@us.ibm.com
2
chrisjohnson@alum.berkeley.edu
Summary.
Hippocratic databases (HDBs) are a class of database systems that ac-
cept responsibility for the privacy and security of information they manage without
impeding legitimate use and disclosure. HDBs ensure that only authorized individ-
uals have access to sensitive information and that any disclosure of this information
is for proper purposes. They empower individuals to consent to specific uses and
disclosures of their information and to verify the enterprise's compliance with its
privacy policies. HDBs also employ technical safeguards to ensure the security of
the information they manage. Further, they use advanced information sharing and
analytics to enable enterprises to gain maximum value from information without
compromising security or individual privacy. In this chapter, we outline the found-
ing principles of a Hippocratic database, describe several technologies that advance
these principles, evaluate the state of the art in HDB-enabling technologies, and
suggest opportunities for future research.
1 Introduction
The Hippocratic database vision was developed at IBM's Almaden Research
Center in response to significant privacy threats posed by the increasing avail-
ability of personal information in the modern technological environment. This
vision was intended to provide guidance for the development of future infor-
mation systems. Thus, HDB technology is not a fixed group of technologies,
but rather an evolving set of capabilities that enable the responsible manage-
ment of sensitive information. HDBs are inspired by the privacy provision of
the Hippocratic Oath, which states that:
...about whatever I may see or hear in treatment, or even without
treatment, in the life of human beings - things that should not ever
be blurted outside - I will remain silent, holding such things to be
unutterable [1].
This work was done while the author was at IBM.
