Python Datafly

datafly.py is a Python implementation of the Datafly algorithm.

Datafly is a greedy heuristic algorithm which is used to anonymize a table in order to satisfy k-anonymity.

Currently supports the CSV format.

Usage

Use the --help command to show the help message:

usage: datafly.py [-h] --private_table PRIVATE_TABLE --quasi_identifier
                  QUASI_IDENTIFIER [QUASI_IDENTIFIER ...]
                  --domain_gen_hierarchies DOMAIN_GEN_HIERARCHIES
                  [DOMAIN_GEN_HIERARCHIES ...] -k K --output OUTPUT

Python implementation of the Datafly algorithm. Finds a k-anonymous
representation of a table.

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  --private_table PRIVATE_TABLE, -pt PRIVATE_TABLE
                        Path to the CSV table to K-anonymize.
  --quasi_identifier QUASI_IDENTIFIER [QUASI_IDENTIFIER ...], -qi QUASI_IDENTIFIER [QUASI_IDENTIFIER ...]
                        Names of the attributes which are Quasi Identifiers.
  --domain_gen_hierarchies DOMAIN_GEN_HIERARCHIES [DOMAIN_GEN_HIERARCHIES ...], -dgh DOMAIN_GEN_HIERARCHIES [DOMAIN_GEN_HIERARCHIES ...]
                        Paths to the generalization files (must have same
                        order as the QI name list.
  -k K                  Value of K.
  --output OUTPUT, -o OUTPUT
                        Path to the output file.

Domain Generalization Hierarchy file format

For each Quasi Identifier attribute it must be specified a corresponding Domain Generalization Hierarchy, which is used to generalize the attribute values.

Each DGH is specified through a DGH file, which in each line specifies the hierarchy relationship of a value for that attribute. For example, for an attribute age, the file could be in this format:

...
42,30-45,30-60,1-60,1-120
43,30-45,30-60,1-60,1-120
44,30-45,30-60,1-60,1-120
45,30-45,30-60,1-60,1-120
46,45-60,30-60,1-60,1-120
...

As shown above each line specifies for a value not generalized (generalization level 0) its hierarchy relationship in the form level 0,level 1,level 2,...,level n (from not-generalized to most generic value).

Example of anonymization:

The ./example folder contains a sample database (db_100.csv), and some Domain Generalization Hierarchy files (age_generalization.csv, city_birth_generalization.csv, zip_code_generalization.csv).

The following command will anonymize the table db_100.csv writing a new table db_100_3_anon.csv which is 3-anonymous (k = 3):

$ python datafly.py -pt "example/db_100.csv" -qi "age" "city_birth" "zip_code" -dgh "example/age_generalization.csv" "example/city_birth_generalization.csv" "example/zip_code_generalization.csv" -k 3 -o "example/db_100_3_anon.csv"

Note that the list of Quasi Identifier names and the corresponding DGH files paths must have the same order.

Authors

• Alessio Vierti - Initial work

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE.md file for details