# Data Anonymization: An Experimental Evaluation Using Open-Source Tools
## 5 Tool Assessment Using OSSpal
### ARX Data Anonymization Tool  
The ARX Data Anonymization Tool was the simplest to use. It has a graphical interface that helps with the dataset upload and its anonymization. One of the biggest problems with this anonymization tool is that the help icon in some menus is not updated with the latest version of the tool and sometimes users do not have the information needed to perform some actions. It is also difficult to understand what needs to be done in some windows since the documentation is not clearly understandable.  
For the Functionality criteria, the values given are represented in Table 2.  
The tool has several algorithms that could be used to anonymize our dataset, but it does not allow the user to choose the algorithm s/he wants. For example, it shows a table with some algorithms linked to our sensitive attributes and other algorithms that do not have a sensitive attribute linked. If the user wants to choose one of these last algorithms, the tool does not allow it, and therefore the value 2 was given. For the anonymized data visualization, the value given was 1 because the results appear in a table side-by-side with the original dataset, so it is easy to compare both versions of the dataset (the original one and the anonymized one). The algorithm application has a value of 3 because it is easy to apply an algorithm to the sensitive attributes, and besides the hierarchy creation is not simple, the tool gives different options considering the attribute type to create the hierarchy. The anonymization process has value 0 because sometimes it is a considerable amount of information to deal with in the tool and it can be confusing instead of helping the user with the process.  
Converting these values with the weight shown in Table 1, the operation that needs to be performed is as follows: (6 \(\times\) 100)/9 = 66.7%, which means, in the scale for the Functionality criteria, that the value for this category is 2.  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c} \hline \hline
**Characteristics** & **Weight** \\ \hline Number of algorithms & 2 \\ Anonymized data visualization & 1 \\ Algorithm application & 3 \\ Anonymization process & 3 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table}
Table 1: Functionality Category—Characteristics and Weights.  
\begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c} \hline \hline
**Characteristics** & **Weight** \\ \hline Number of algorithms & 2 \\ Anonymized data visualization & 1 \\ Algorithm application & 3 \\ Anonymization process & 3 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table}
Table 2: Functionality Category—ARX Data Anonymization Tool.  
* Functionality--2 \(\times\) 30% = 0.6
* Operational Software Characteristics--5 \(\times\) 20% = 1
* Support and Services--4 \(\times\) 10% = 0.4
* Documentation--3 \(\times\) 10% = 0.3
* Software Technology Attributes--4 \(\times\) 15% = 0.6
* Community and Adaption--4 \(\times\) 5% = 0.2
* Development Process--0 \(\times\) 10% = 0  
The score given to Operational Software Characteristics is 5 due to the great graphical user interface which significantly helps users to anonymize their data. The tool is also easy to install, easy to configure, and easy to use. Support and Services and Community and Adaption, respectively, have a score of 4, because there are many articles and much information on the Internet about this tool. Some of these articles are mentioned on their website. These last points were also important to the Documentation criterion, but the way that the documentation is used in the tool is not good and it makes it difficult for users to have a valuable experience with it, which is why we define a score of 3. Software Technology Attributes have a score of 4 because the architecture seems good, and the tool does not have bugs. Finally, the Development Process has a value of 0, because the tool does not maintain any records about the controller.  
The result of all criteria values is: \(0.6+1+0.4+0.3+0.6+0.2+0=3.1\).  
Consequently, the result given for the ARX Data Anonymization Tool is 3.1 out of 5, between Acceptable and Very Good.