KR102202152B1 - Method, system and non-transitory computer-readable recording medium for de-identification of data on blockchain network - Google Patents

Abstract

According to an aspect of the present invention, a method for de-identifying data in a blockchain network, the step of performing de-identification processing on at least some data of a data set including data corresponding to information to be protected, the ratio There is provided a method comprising generating irreversible information based on a data set on which identification processing has been performed, and recording the generated irreversible information in a blockchain network.

Description

A method, system, and non-transitory computer-readable recording medium for de-identifying data in a blockchain network {METHOD, SYSTEM AND NON-TRANSITORY COMPUTER-READABLE RECORDING MEDIUM FOR DE-IDENTIFICATION OF DATA ON BLOCKCHAIN NETWORK}

The present invention relates to a method, a system and a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium for de-identifying data in a blockchain network.

In recent years, as a medical information platform using blockchain technology that can guarantee reliability and transparency has appeared, it is attracting attention from many people. On these platforms, multiple entities with different interests, such as medical researchers, healthcare providers (eg, hospitals, doctors), and general users (eg, patients), coexist, and no one entity is the center. Since it is based on decentralized, the management and operation method of the platform becomes more important than anything else in order for the platform to continuously develop and maintain.

In the previously introduced blockchain-based platform, a predetermined irreversible operation is performed on data managed by the platform and the resulting hash value is a predetermined Merkle tree (i.e., hash tree). The technology that is structured in the form of and recorded in the blockchain network is commonly used. However, there is a problem in that it is difficult to sufficiently protect sensitive information (eg, medical records, etc.) requiring security maintenance with the technology commonly used as described above.

2 is a diagram showing exemplary data related to medical records that can be recorded in a blockchain network.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a process of generating a Merkle tree to record data related to medical records in a blockchain network according to the prior art.

First, referring to FIG. 2, data "1" and "2" are located as medical details in level 1 of the data set, and "123" (211) and "123" as disease name codes are located in level 2 of the data set. It can be assumed that data "212" is located, and data "a" (221), "b," "a" (222) and "c" are located as symptoms in level 3 of the data set.

Next, referring to FIG. 3, in the data set according to FIG. 2, a Merkle tree formed by hash values derived as a result of performing an irreversible operation on each level of data can be confirmed.

Specifically, referring to the Merkle tree illustrated in FIG. 3, a hash value 311 for "123" 211 and a hash value of "123" 212 located at level 2 of the data set according to FIG. 2 All 312 were calculated as "F11DCE" and thus appeared identical to each other, and in the hash values 321 and "a" 222 for "a" 221 located at level 3 of the data set according to FIG. 2 It can be seen that the hash values 322 for are all calculated as "94BA4" and thus appear identical to each other.

As can be seen in the example of FIG. 3, according to the conventional Merkle tree generation method, a third party who knows that the hash value for the disease "a" is "94BA4" responds to a person's medical record. From the fact that there is a hash value of "94BA4" in the Merkle tree, it can be inferred that the person has the disease "a". That is, according to the merkle tree generation method according to the prior art, the content of the original data corresponding to the hash value can be inferred through the hash value, so there is a limitation in that it is practically difficult to de-identify (secret) sensitive personal information. exist.

Accordingly, the present inventor proposes a new and advanced technology capable of de-identifying data that is required to maintain security in a blockchain network.

An object of the present invention is to solve all the problems of the prior art described above.

In addition, the present invention, by performing de-identification processing on at least some of the data sets including data corresponding to the data to be protected, and performing an irreversible operation based on the data set on which the de-identification processing has been performed, the blockchain Another purpose is to prevent the information to be protected from being revealed through the hash value included in the Merkle tree to be recorded on the network.

A typical configuration of the present invention for achieving the above object is as follows.

According to an aspect of the present invention, a method for de-identifying data in a blockchain network, the step of performing de-identification processing on at least some data of a data set including data corresponding to information to be protected, the ratio There is provided a method comprising generating irreversible information based on a data set on which identification processing has been performed, and recording the generated irreversible information in a blockchain network.

According to another aspect of the present invention, as a system for de-identifying data in a blockchain network, de-identification processing is performed on at least some data of a data set including data corresponding to the information to be protected, and the de-identification There is provided a system including an irreversible information management unit that generates irreversible information based on a data set that has been processed, and a blockchain network management unit that records the generated irreversible information in a blockchain network.

In addition to this, another method for implementing the present invention, another system, and a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium for recording a computer program for executing the method are further provided.

According to the present invention, since it is possible to prevent the information to be protected from being revealed (or not identified) through the hash value included in the Merkle tree to be recorded in the blockchain network, sensitive information such as medical records stored in the blockchain network is more thorough. The effect of being able to protect it is achieved.

1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of an entire system for managing an account in a blockchain network according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a diagram showing exemplary data related to medical records that can be recorded in a blockchain network.
3 is a diagram illustrating a process of generating a Merkle tree in order to record data about medical records in a blockchain network according to the prior art.
4 and 5 are diagrams exemplarily illustrating a process of performing de-identification processing to record data related to medical records in a blockchain network according to an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The detailed description of the present invention to be described later refers to the accompanying drawings, which illustrate specific embodiments in which the present invention may be practiced. These embodiments are described in detail sufficient to enable those skilled in the art to practice the present invention. It is to be understood that the various embodiments of the present invention are different from each other, but need not be mutually exclusive. For example, specific shapes, structures, and characteristics described herein may be changed from one embodiment to another and implemented without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. In addition, it should be understood that the positions or arrangements of individual elements in each embodiment may be changed without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Therefore, the detailed description to be described below is not made in a limiting sense, and the scope of the present invention should be taken as encompassing the scope claimed by the claims of the claims and all scopes equivalent thereto. Like reference numerals in the drawings indicate the same or similar elements over several aspects.

Hereinafter, various preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings in order to enable those skilled in the art to easily implement the present invention.

Composition of the whole system

1 is a diagram showing a schematic configuration of an entire system for de-identifying data in a blockchain network according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the entire system according to an embodiment of the present invention may include a communication network and a plurality of nodes 100.

First, a communication network according to an embodiment of the present invention may be configured regardless of a communication mode such as wired communication or wireless communication, and a local area network (LAN), a metropolitan area network (MAN), and a wide area communication network are used. It may be composed of various communication networks such as a wide area network (WAN). Preferably, the communication network referred to in this specification may be a publicly known Internet or World Wide Web (WWW). However, the communication network is not necessarily limited thereto, and may include a known wired/wireless data communication network, a known telephone network, or a known wired/wireless television communication network in at least part thereof.

For example, a communication network is a wireless data communication network, such as radio frequency (RF) communication, Wi-Fi communication, cellular (LTE, etc.) communication, Bluetooth communication (more specifically, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)). )), infrared communication, ultrasonic communication, and the like may be implemented in at least a portion thereof.

Next, a plurality of nodes 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention (node) is a contact point or connection point capable of communicating with other nodes 100 through a communication network, a server, a computer, a laptop, a smartphone, a tablet PC. Etc. (i.e., a digital device equipped with a memory means and equipped with a microprocessor and capable of computing) or a logical node by an application, a program module, a virtual machine, etc. (i.e., a virtual node) ) May be a concept including. For example, the plurality of nodes 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention may include various nodes such as a user node, a certification authority node, a medical institution node, an insurance claim service provider node, and an insurance company node.

Meanwhile, in the plurality of nodes 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention, in order to perform authentication based on a blockchain network, the data de-identification system according to the present invention is included in the form of program modules such as applications and widgets. There may be. In addition, such a program module may be downloaded from an external application distribution server (not shown) or an external system (not shown).

The above blockchain network according to an embodiment of the present invention jointly verifies the information to be stored on the network by a plurality of nodes 100 participating in the network, and the verified information By recording and sharing on the network, it may be a network in a manner that can ensure the integrity and reliability of the recorded information without relying on an authorized third party. For example, according to an embodiment of the present invention, such a blockchain network is a conventional blockchain network such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Quantum, and MediBloc (MED, MEDX). It may be a network having at least some similar characteristics. In addition, according to an embodiment of the present invention, such a blockchain network is a private blockchain network, a public blockchain network, or a hybrid network of a private blockchain and a public blockchain. It may be a concept that includes various types of blockchain networks.

In addition, in the block chain network according to an embodiment of the present invention, cryptocurrency may be issued and distributed for network operation and management.

For example, according to an embodiment of the present invention, this cryptocurrency is the Ethereum Token Standard (ERC 20; Ethereum Request for Comments 20) or the Quantum Token Standard (QRC; that is, the Quantum corresponding to Ethereum's ERC 20 ( It may be a cryptocurrency generated based on the token standard of Qtum).

Next, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the data de-identification system performs de-identification processing on at least some data of the data set including data corresponding to the protection target information, and the above de-identification processing is performed. It can generate irreversible information based on the set of data and record the above generated irreversible information in the blockchain network.

The configuration and function of the data de-identification system according to the present invention will be described in detail through the following detailed description. On the other hand, the data de-identification system has been described as above, but this description is illustrative, and at least some of the functions or components required for the data de-identification system may be provided with a plurality of nodes 100 or external systems. It is obvious to those skilled in the art that it may be realized within (not shown) or included in a plurality of nodes 100 or external systems. For example, according to an embodiment of the present invention, a user uses an application including at least some of the functions of the data de-identification system (or blockchain network) according to the present invention through his or her node, or By using a node to access a website that provides at least some of the functions of the data de-identification system (or blockchain network) according to the present invention, authentication according to the present invention can be performed.

Configuration of data de-identification system

Hereinafter, functions of each component of the data de-identification system that perform important functions for the implementation of the present invention will be described.

The data de-identification system according to an embodiment of the present invention may include an irreversible information management unit and a blockchain network management unit. At least some of the irreversible information management unit and the block chain network management unit according to an embodiment of the present invention may be a program module that communicates with an external system. Such a program module may be included in the operating system in the form of an operating system, an application program module, or other program module, and may be physically stored in various known storage devices. Further, these program modules may be stored in a remote storage device capable of communicating with the operating system. Meanwhile, such a program module includes routines, subroutines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc. that perform specific tasks or execute specific abstract data types according to the present invention, but is not limited thereto.

First, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the irreversible information management unit may perform non-identification processing on at least some data of a data set including data corresponding to the protection target information. In addition, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the irreversible information management unit may generate irreversible information based on the data set on which the above non-identification processing has been performed. According to an embodiment of the present invention, the data subject to de-identification processing may be the entire data set or some data corresponding to the protection target information included in the data set.

Here, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the information to be protected may include all types of information that may be required to maintain security, for example, personal medical records, personal credit information, personal financial information, etc. I can.

Specifically, the irreversible information management unit according to an embodiment of the present invention, for each of the first data and the second data included in the data set to be de-identified processing different nonce (that is, encryption or An arbitrary value that can be added at one time for de-identification) can be added, and irreversible information for the first data is generated based on both the first data and the nonce value added to the first data, and the second Irreversible information on the second data may be generated based on both the data and the nonce value added to the second data.

For example, the irreversible information management unit according to an embodiment of the present invention includes salt data (i.e., additional input to a hash function) at the beginning, middle, or end of each data included in a data set subject to non-identification processing. Any data that can be used as a value) can be added. For another example, the irreversible information management unit according to an embodiment of the present invention generates a salt tree separately from a Merkle tree for a data set to be subjected to non-identification processing, and then generates a Merkle tree and a salt tree. Can be combined. For another example, the irreversible information management unit according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a node having salt data as a value for a Merkle tree for a data set subject to non-identification processing as a child of a leaf node. Can be added as a node.

However, the method of adding a nonce value to a data set subject to de-identification processing according to the present invention is not necessarily limited to the above-listed methods, and any change within the scope capable of achieving the object of the present invention It can be.

In order to perform the above irreversible operation, known techniques for irreversible transformation, such as a predetermined hash function, a hash operation, and a cryptographic algorithm, may be used.

Next, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the blockchain network management unit may record the irreversible information generated as above in the blockchain network.

Specifically, the block chain network management unit according to an embodiment of the present invention may structure the irreversible information generated as described above in a Merkle tree format and record it in the block chain network.

4 and 5 are diagrams exemplarily illustrating a process of performing de-identification processing to record data related to medical records in a blockchain network according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In the embodiments of FIGS. 4 and 5, it is assumed that the medical record data created according to the Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) format is de-identified and recorded in the blockchain network as shown in FIG. have.

First, referring to FIG. 2, data "1" and "2" are located as medical details in level 1 of the data set, and "123" (211) and "123" (212) as disease name codes are located in level 2 of the data set. ) Is located, and data "a" (221), "b," "a" (222) and "c" may be located as symptoms in level 3 of the data set.

Next, referring to FIG. 4, the irreversible information management unit according to an embodiment of the present invention may add a nonce value to data located at level 1, level 2, and level 3 of a data set, respectively, and accordingly Different nonce values of "75FB5" and "AA3A4" are added to the data "123" (211) and "123" (212) of 2, respectively, and "a" (221) and "a" (222) of level 3 Different nonce values of "7D9FC" and "81C71" may be added to the data of ).

Next, referring to FIG. 5, the irreversible information management unit according to an embodiment of the present invention includes both corresponding data and nonce values added to the data for each of the data located at the data set level 1, level 2, and level 3 It is possible to generate irreversible information (ie, hash value) for the data by performing an irreversible operation based on. For example, for the data of "123" (211) and "123" (212) of level 2 of the data set, hash values of "298A4" (511) and "2C21D" (512) are generated, so that the two original data Although the contents of are the same, the hash values for these two original data can be calculated differently, and for the data of level 3 "a" (221) and "a" (222), "DAF59" (521), respectively. And "677D9" (522) is generated so that the hash values for the two original data may be calculated differently even though the contents of the two original data are the same.

Subsequently, referring to FIG. 5, the blockchain network management unit according to an embodiment of the present invention may structure the irreversible information (i.e., hash value) calculated as above in a Merkle tree format and record it in the blockchain network. .

As can be seen from the embodiments of FIGS. 4 and 5, according to the data de-identification system according to an embodiment of the present invention, even when two or more original data have the same contents (for example, "a "If there is more than one data indicating the disease), the hash value for each of the two or more original data can be calculated differently, so only the hash value recorded in the blockchain network (or Merkle Tree) by a third party The effect of making the content of the original data impossible to infer on the basis can be achieved.

The embodiments according to the present invention described above may be implemented in the form of program instructions that can be executed through various computer components and recorded in a computer-readable recording medium. The computer-readable recording medium may include program instructions, data files, data structures, etc. alone or in combination. The program instructions recorded in the computer-readable recording medium may be specially designed and constructed for the present invention or may be known and usable to those skilled in the computer software field. Examples of computer-readable recording media include magnetic media such as hard disks, floppy disks, and magnetic tapes, optical recording media such as CD-ROMs and DVDs, and magnetic-optical media such as floptical disks. medium), and a hardware device specially configured to store and execute program instructions, such as ROM, RAM, flash memory, and the like. Examples of the program instructions include not only machine language codes such as those produced by a compiler but also high-level language codes that can be executed by a computer using an interpreter or the like. The hardware device can be changed to one or more software modules to perform the processing according to the present invention, and vice versa.

In the above, the present invention has been described by specific matters such as specific elements and limited embodiments and drawings, but this is provided only to help a more general understanding of the present invention, and the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. Anyone with ordinary knowledge in the technical field to which the invention belongs can make various modifications and changes from these descriptions.

Accordingly, the spirit of the present invention is limited to the above-described embodiments and should not be defined, and all ranges equivalent to or equivalently changed from the claims to be described later as well as the claims to be described later are the scope of the spirit of the present invention. It will be said to belong to.

100: multiple nodes

Claims (8)

As a method for de-identifying data in a blockchain network,
Performing de-identification processing on at least some data of a data set including data corresponding to the data to be protected,
Generating irreversible information based on the data set on which the non-identification processing has been performed, and
And recording the generated irreversible information in a blockchain network,
In the step of performing the de-identification processing, adding different nonce values to the first data and the second data respectively included in the data set
Way. The method of claim 1,
The at least some data includes data corresponding to the information to be protected.
Way. delete The method of claim 1,
In the irreversible information generating step, irreversible information on the first data is generated based on both the first data and the nonce value added to the first data, and the second data and the nonce added to the second data Generating irreversible information for the second data based on all of the switch values
Way. The method of claim 1,
In the recording step, the generated irreversible information is structured in a Merkle tree format and recorded in the blockchain network.
Way. The method of claim 1,
The data set contains medical data written according to the Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) format.
Way. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium for recording a computer program for executing the method according to claim 1. As a system for de-identifying data in a blockchain network,
An irreversible information management unit that performs de-identification processing on at least some data of a data set including data corresponding to the protection target information, and generates irreversible information based on the data set on which the de-identification processing has been performed, and
A blockchain network management unit that records the generated irreversible information on a blockchain network,
The irreversible information management unit adds different nonce values to the first data and the second data respectively included in the data set.
system.

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