Prevention of personally identifiable information leakage in ecommerce using offline data minimization and online pseudonymisation.
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Date
2023
Authors
Kangwa, Mukuka
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
The University of Zambia
Abstract
The rapid adoption of electronic channels for the delivery of services by various service
providers compels the consumers of these services to adapt. For one to be granted
access to e-services, one must surrender part of their Personally Identifiable Information
(PII) hence making their personal data susceptible to leakage. Despite several solutions
being already in use to protect PII, data leakage persists. To enhance PII protection and
user privacy, the research proposes employing Offline Data minimization and
Pseudonymisation using physical and logical partitions implemented through a
combination of hardware and software. The implementation includes the use of unique
random pseudo-ID algorithm derived from the modification of the Request for
Comment (RFC) time-based One Time Password (TOTP) standard RFC 6238. The
random pseudo-ID can be used to transact online while preventing online profiling that
is possible when using static pseudo-IDs. The Random ID generator algorithm can be
used to trace the user of a given Random pseudo–ID. Data is most vulnerable to leakage
when it is accessible via the Internet. The solution developed addressed the problem of
PII data leakage by making sensitive data ‘offline’ to the internet. The methodology
employed the Trusted Third Party (TTP) approach. This meant having a third party
collecting PII from e-commerce users and confirming the KYC of users who would like
to be granted access to e-commerce platforms hence preventing the spreading of
aggregated PII across the cyber space. At the TTP, this was achieved by data
Minimization of sensitive personal information and pseudonymization of information
to be made available for online transactions. To keep the PII ‘Offline’, a multi-layered
hardware approach was used; two microcontrollers were configured to create a buffer
that ensured one-way traffic towards the online-sub system that held minimized
pseudonymized data. To further restrict the amount of data that could flow from the
offline system to the online system, the bandwidth between the microcontrollers was
restricted to 9,600bps. Experiment results showed that the ‘offline’ system hosting the
PII could not be accessed. Further, Random IDs were successfully generated to ensure
privacy is maintained for users.
Key words
Personally Identifiable Information, Data Privacy, One Time Password, Data
Protection, Time-based One Time Password, Firmware, and TOR
Description
Thesis
Keywords
Offline data minimization. , Online pseudonymisation.