Privacy-Aware Single-Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) using Bilinear Group Accumulators in Batch Mode

TL;DR

This paper proposes a privacy-preserving method for managing DNA data, specifically SNPs, using bilinear group accumulators to enable secure batch searches while protecting individual privacy.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach to hash SNP data into bilinear group accumulators for privacy-aware DNA database searches, enhancing data security and user rights.

Findings

Witness proof creation time: 0.86 ms

Verification time: 10.90 ms

Supports privacy-aware batch SNP searches

Abstract

Biometric data is often highly sensitive, and a leak of this data can lead to serious privacy breaches. Some of the most sensitive of this type of data relates to the usage of DNA data on individuals. A leak of this type of data without consent could lead to privacy breaches of data protection laws. Along with this, there have been several recent data breaches related to the leak of DNA information, including from 23andMe and Ancestry. It is thus fundamental that a citizen should have the right to know if their DNA data is contained within a DNA database and ask for it to be removed if they are concerned about its usage. This paper outlines a method of hashing the core information contained within the data stores - known as Single-Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) - into a bilinear group accumulator in batch mode, which can then be searched by a trusted entity for matches. The time to create the witness proof and to verify were measured at 0.86 ms and 10.90 ms, respectively.