Entropy as a measure of database information

Author

Unger, E.A. ; Harn, Lein ; Kumar, Vijay

Author_Institution

Comput. & Inf. Sci., Kansas State Univ., Manhattan, KS, USA

fYear

1990

fDate

3-7 Dec 1990

Firstpage

80

Lastpage

87

Abstract

An estimate of the information a database contains and the quantification of the vulnerability of that database to compromise by inferential methods is discussed. Such a measure could be used to evaluate the deterrent value of extant protection methods and provide a measure of the potential for inferential compromise through the use of one of the known attack tools. The authors explore the use of the concept of entropy as defined for information by C.E. Shannon (1948; 1951), for the purpose of quantifying information content in a database and develop a measure of vulnerability based on entropy. Use of the measure, when exact disclosure through the use of a tracker is anticipated, is characterized for both static and dynamic databases at design and operational time

Keywords

data integrity; database management systems; security of data; attack tools; deterrent value; dynamic databases; extant protection methods; inferential compromise; inferential methods; information content; operational time; tracker; Area measurement; Cryptography; Data security; Databases; Entropy; Information retrieval; Information security; Protection; State estimation; Time measurement;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Computer Security Applications Conference, 1990., Proceedings of the Sixth Annual

Conference_Location

Tucson, AZ

Print_ISBN

0-8186-2105-2

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/CSAC.1990.143755

Filename

143755