CAREER: Securing history: privacy and accountability in database systems

计算机系统中的责任通常通过保存活动和数据的历史来提供。 这允许分析过去的事件，以检测违规行为，保持数据质量，并审计安全策略的合规性。 然而，在某些情况下，保留过去数据或操作的历史会对隐私构成严重威胁。 隐私和问责制都是重要的目标，系统设计者需要仔细管理它们之间的平衡。 这项CAREER研究正在建立一个能够安全管理历史的数据库系统，从而平衡隐私和问责制的需求。 在需要它的设置中，系统可配置为“无记忆”，通过阻止未经授权的跟踪活动或恢复已删除数据的尝试来保护隐私。 这是通过在删除数据时安全地删除数据、提供保留数据的准确视图以及提供存储在系统中的敏感数据项的生命周期界限来实现的。 在其他情况下，该系统通过保留所需的历史，允许对其进行有效分析，并保护其免受不必要的披露来支持问责制。 这个项目的更广泛的影响包括一个公开的原型数据库系统，体现上述目标，沿着与课程扩展，把隐私和系统问责制的主题纳入本科教育。 除了丰富马萨诸塞大学阿默斯特分校现有的信息保障本科生培训计划外，该项目还将促进马萨诸塞州西部五所大学联盟校园之间的合作。 项目成果，包括原型源代码和文件以及项目出版物，将通过项目网站（http：//dbgroup.cs.umass.edu/securing-history）提供。

Accountability in computer systems is typically provided by preserving a history of activities and data. This allows past events to be analyzed to detect breaches, maintain data quality, and to audit compliance with security policies. In some settings, however, retaining a history of past data or operations poses a serious threat to privacy. Privacy and accountability are both important goals, and system designers need to carefully manage the balance between them. This CAREER research is building a database system capable of securely managing history, thus balancing the needs for privacy and accountability. In settings that require it, the system is configurable as ``memoryless'', protecting privacy by resisting unauthorized attempts to trace activities or recover deleted data. This is achieved by removing data safely when it is deleted, providing an accurate view of the data that is retained, and by offering bounds on the lifetime of sensitive data items stored in the system. In other settings, the system supports accountability by retaining desired history, permitting its efficient analysis, and protecting it from unwanted disclosure. The broader impact of this project includes a publicly-available prototype database system embodying the goals above, along with curriculum extensions that bring privacy and system accountability themes into undergraduate education. In addition to enriching existing programs at UMass Amherst for training undergraduates in Information Assurance, this project will foster collaboration among the campuses of the Five College consortium of Western Massachusetts. The project results including the prototype source code and documentation and the project publications will be made available via the project website (http://dbgroup.cs.umass.edu/securing-history).