4 ways to protect patient privacy when sharing genome data

As genomics gains prominence in the healthcare world, issues of data privacy also surface. Researchers from Stanford University School of Medicine in Palo Alto, Calif., suggest if certain genomic data falls into the wrong hands, those people can use genomic clues to piece together information about an individual.

The researchers were analyzing a network of genomic data called the Beacon Project, organized by the Global Alliance for Genomics and Health, which is co-funded by the National Institutes of Health. They found a hacker could construct a limited profile of an individual, potentially including that person’s relatives, with just 5,000 queries of the data.

However, the researchers suggest a number of ways to minimize this risk and better protect patient information.

1. Ban anonymous researchers from querying the data base.

2. Merge data sets to make it harder to identify the exact source of data.

3. Require users accessing the database be approved.

4. Limit access in a dataset to a smaller region of the genome instead of granting full access.

4 ways to protect patient privacy when sharing genome data

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