PIDS: a privacy intrusion detection system

It is well-known that the primary threat against misuse of private data about individuals is present within the organisation. This paper proposes a system that uses Intrusion Detection System (IDS) technologies to help safeguard such private information. It is assumed that the private information is stored in a central networked repository (using, for example, network-attached storage). The proposed Privacy IDS (PIDS) is used on the border between this repository and the rest of the organisation to identify attempts to misuse such information. The system works by identifying anomalous behaviour and reacts by throttling access to the data and/or issuing reports.