CAREER: Securing history: privacy and accountability in database systems

计算机系统的责任通常是通过保存活动和数据的历史来提供的。这允许对过去的事件进行分析，以检测违规行为，维护数据质量，并审核与安全策略的遵从性。然而，在某些情况下，保留过去数据或操作的历史记录会对隐私构成严重威胁。隐私和责任都是重要的目标，系统设计者需要谨慎地管理它们之间的平衡。这项CAREER研究正在构建一个能够安全管理历史的数据库系统，从而平衡隐私和责任的需求。在需要它的设置中，系统可配置为“无内存”，通过抵抗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限制来实现的。在其他设置中，系统通过保留所需的历史，允许其有效分析并保护其免受不必要的披露来支持问责制。该项目的更广泛影响包括一个体现上述目标的公开可用的原型数据库系统，以及将隐私和系统问责主题引入本科教育的课程扩展。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项目外，该项目还将促进马萨诸塞西部五学院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).