The UK data watchdog the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is recommending organisations start using privacy enhancing technologies (PETs) to share people’s personal information safely, securely and anonymously.
These types of technologies open the ICO says opportunities for harnessing personal data through innovative and trustworthy applications, by allowing them to share, link and analyse people’s personal information without having access to it. PETs can be used to share anonymised personal information to detect and prevent financial crimes and related harms such as fraud, money laundering, and cybercrimes.
The ICO has launched new PETs guidance, which is aimed at data protection officers; and others who more technically are using large personal data sets in finance, healthcare, research, and central and local government.
John Edwards, UK Information Commissioner, said: ““If your organisation shares large volumes of data, particularly special category data, we recommend that over the next five years you start considering using PETs. PETs enable safe data sharing and allow organisations to make the best use of the personal data they hold, driving innovation.
“My office is committed to supporting UK businesses to develop and innovate with new technologies that respect people’s privacy and this guidance helps them to do that.”
Comment
Dr Ellison Anne Williams, CEO of Enveil, said: “The need to securely and privately leverage data is by no means a passing trend. With an increasing number of global regulations designed to ensure companies protect sensitive information, the ability to use data securely and privately across silos has become imperative for businesses operating in a global digital economy. This, combined with the growing trend toward hyper-localization, has created a need to reshape the way we leverage data.
“Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PETs) are an increasingly prominent focal point for a broad range of organizations and governments around the world. By securing the usage of data, PETs enable, enhance, and preserve the privacy of data throughout its lifecycle. The category is transformative because of its collective ability to unlock data value by overcoming silos and boundaries, enabling organizations to make more effective, data-driven decisions.
“Whether led by market demand or regulation, organizations must be ready to operate at a global scale in a world that prioritizes data protection and privacy – PETs uniquely deliver solutions to this challenge.”
