Diophantine inferences from statistical aggregates on few-valued attributes
By: [by] Neil C. Rowe
Contributors: Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.)
Publisher: Naval Postgraduate School
Published: 1984
Place of publication: Monterey, California
Language: eng
Subjects: Diophantine equations; Statistics; Databases; Number theory
Description: Research on protection of statistical databases from revelation of private or sensitive information has rarely examined situations where domain-dependent structure exits for a data attribute such that only a very few independent variables can characterize it. Such circumstances can lead to Diophantine (integer-solution) equations whose solution can lead to surprising or compromising inferences on quite large data populations. In many cases the Diophantine equations are linear, allowing efficient algorithmic solution. Probabilistic models can also be used to rank solutions by reasonability, further pruning the search space. Unfortunately, it is difficult to protect against this form of data compromise, and all countermeasures have disadvantages. (Author)
Notes: Title from cover.

"Prepared for: Chief of Naval Research"--Cover.

"January 1984"--Cover.

"NPS52-84-003"--Cover.

DTIC Identifiers: Diophantine equations, Statistical data bases, PE61152N.

Author(s) key words: Statistical databases, security, compromise, statistics, Diophantine equations, cominatorics, number theory, privacy, inference, estimation.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 7-8).

"Approved for public release; distribution unlimited"--Cover.

Technical report; 1984.

aq/aq cc:9116 09/01/98

kmc/kmc 10/28/09.