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The General Data Protection Regulation and Log Pseudonymization

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Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems ((LNNS,volume 227))

Abstract

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) demands the use of various protection levels to ensure that personal data meet information security requirements. One of the techniques the GDPR recommends to protect personal data is pseudonymization, which consists of replacing real data with pseudonyms. Although databases and documents contain much of the personal data that should be protected, several types of log files contain data (like IP addresses, e-mails, and usernames) that may lead to the (direct or indirect) identification of a person. Therefore, log files must also be processed to achieve regulatory compliance with the principle of accountability imposed by the regulation. In this work, we deal with the pseudonymization of log data. We identify and discuss pseudonymization strategies in terms of the log processing phase and management architecture. We experimentally evaluate such strategies using three implementation alternatives, providing conclusions and helpful insights on their usage.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5424.

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Acknowledgements

This work is partially funded by National Funds through the FCT (Foundation for Science and Technology) in the context of the project UIDB/04524/2020.

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Correspondence to Rogério Luís de C. Costa .

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Varanda, A., Santos, L., Costa, R.L.d.C., Oliveira, A., Rabadão, C. (2021). The General Data Protection Regulation and Log Pseudonymization. In: Barolli, L., Woungang, I., Enokido, T. (eds) Advanced Information Networking and Applications. AINA 2021. Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, vol 227. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-75078-7_48

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