Privacy preserving database access through dynamic privacy filters with stable data randomization

There are scenarios where using production databases for testing are unavoidable. In a time/mission-critical situation where a developer is required to fix a bug immediately the only option is use production database for testing. However, this may pose a violation of privacy. In this paper, we describe a different approach utilizing a privacy filter that examines queries from an application to match with predefined privacy policy to decide the result return. The approach is illustrated using a prototype which was implemented with query modification and data randomization techniques.