Re: How to make data unidentifiable?

From: Turkbear <john.g_at_dot.spamfree.com>
Date: Thu, 10 Jun 2004 08:46:42 -0500
Message-ID: <4bpgc0lrmdqi7q4umqe741id46ou32f1me@4ax.com>

j_parrinello_at_msn.com (Joseph) wrote:

>Sybrand Bakker <sybrandb_at_hccnet.nl> wrote in message news:<2stec0ptn1k69cis0oflalr79osnkcttdj_at_4ax.com>...
>> On 9 Jun 2004 10:00:49 -0700, j_parrinello_at_msn.com (Joseph) wrote:
>>
>> >Hello,
>> >
>> >I am building a database to be used for demonstration purposes. I wish to
>> >import the data from an existing database into the demo. However I need to
>> >tranform the data from the existing database so that the data is
>> >unidentifiable but meaningful. For example, I need to change the First
>> >name, Last name, Address, city, state, zip, Social Security etc...so that
>> >they are different to the original database but still have meaning in the
>> >new database. E.g. A record such as:
>> >
>> >Peter Paulas, 123 Main St, New York, New York, 10023, 555-342-3423
>> >becomes something like:
>> >Simon Trickle, 234 East St, Bronx, New York, 10023, 534-234-2333
>> >
>> >I would like the transformed record: Simon Trickle, to still be linked to
>> >the remaining data that is not tranformed. Has anybody tried this before
>> >and if so, do you have any easy solution.
>> >
>> >Thanks,
>> >Joseph
>>
>>
>> Oracle supplies a dbms_obfuscation_toolkit for this very purpose.
>
>
>Thanks for the input. Even though I have never used the Obfuscation
>toolkit, it appears that Obfuscation simply encrypts the data.
>Instead, I want to transform the data (i.e. only some fields in all
>rows), so that the transformed data can no longer be indentifiable to
>an actual person, however the data still has meaning. So say for
>example:
>
>sql> desc name
>
> Name
> ----------------------------
> ID CHAR(12)
> FIRST_NAME VARCHAR2(30)
> LAST_NAME VARCHAR2(30)
> SOCIAL_SEC CHAR(9)
>
>After I "transform" the data in this table, for each row in the table,
>the ID stays the same. However the FIRST_NAME, LAST_NAME and
>SOCIAL_SEC would be changed to a different FIRST_NAME, LAST_NAME and
>SOCIAL_SEC. Simply, jumbling the letters or encrypting each field
>won't do because I want the data to remain meaningful (i.e. the
>transformed FIRST_NAME is still a real first name). Does this make
>sense? Maybe what I am trying is impossible??

I short, except by extensive programming , it is impossible.. You can encrypt ( not what you want) , randomly replace one letter with another ( will result in names that may not look like names) or just reverse the alpha strings ( easily decoded and the real name revealed.)

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