A formalization of re-identification in terms of compatible probabilities

Abstract: Re-identification algorithms are used in data privacy to measure disclosure risk. They model the situation in which an adversary attacks a published database by means of linking the information of this adversary with the database. In this paper we formalize this type of algorithm in terms of true probabilities and compatible belief functions. The purpose of this work is to leave aside as re-identification algorithms those algorithms that do not satisfy a minimum requirement.