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Technology Transfer from the University of Oxford

technology for secure data sharing - Isis Project No 3038

A new software-based system enables information to be shared within and between organisations in a secure, controlled, and dynamic manner.

MARKETING OPPORTUNITY

Organisations in all sectors are capturing growing volumes of data. Increasingly, there is a need to share such data, for example, to provide effective national security, to deliver patient-centred healthcare, and more generally to exploit the commercial potential of digital assets.  Data sharing must be undertaken in a way that is both legal and ethical, with concerns being derived from the value of such assets, and national and international legislation and regulatory frameworks (e.g. Data Protection Act, Sarbanes-Oxley Act). Recent high profile security failings, at HMRC, where personal information including bank account details for 25 million Child Benefits recipients were lost, and at the DVLA, where similar data loses were recorded for 3 million learner drivers, highlight the problems faced by organisations in sharing data in an efficient, secure, compliant and ethical manner. Clearly there is a requirement for access control mechanisms that meet these needs.

THE OXFORD INVENTION

The Oxford invention is a novel software-based system that facilitates secure and dynamic data access and data sharing.  Features of the technology include:

  • Expressive fine-grained data access policies – customisable policies can meet the specific needs of data owners and users;
  • Fully audited – audit log tracks user access and enables external users to be charged;
  • Real-time access control evolution – policies evolve as the access log is updated offering real-time database security;
  • Account management – via the evolving access control mechanism, usage limits (in terms of, for example, monetary value, data size, or time) can be imposed on users;
  • Technology and data agnosticism – database-independent and data-independent approach.

Importantly, the Oxford technology can enable the sharing of data in an innovative and flexible fashion.

COMMERCIAL STATUS

Isis would like to talk to companies interested in developing the commercial opportunity that this represents. Please contact the Isis Project Manager for more information.

KEYWORDS

Data Access, Data Access Policies, Enterprise Data Security, IT Security

Request Further Information: Project Number 3038 - Technology for Secure Data Sharing