Data Security Equals Graph Connectivity

TL;DR

This paper explores four levels of data security in tables, linking them to graph connectivity, and provides algorithms and complexity results for testing and achieving these security levels.

Contribution

It introduces a novel graph-theoretic framework for analyzing data security levels in tables and presents efficient algorithms and NP-completeness results.

Findings

Four levels of data security are characterized and linked to graph connectivity.

Efficient algorithms are developed for testing and achieving these security levels.

NP-completeness results are established for certain security verification problems.

Abstract

To protect sensitive information in a cross tabulated table, it is a common practice to suppress some of the cells in the table. This paper investigates four levels of data security of a two-dimensional table concerning the effectiveness of this practice. These four levels of data security protect the information contained in, respectively, individual cells, individual rows and columns, several rows or columns as a whole, and a table as a whole. The paper presents efficient algorithms and NP-completeness results for testing and achieving these four levels of data security. All these complexity results are obtained by means of fundamental equivalences between the four levels of data security of a table and four types of connectivity of a graph constructed from that table.