The Secret Life of PETs - Series

New and emerging Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PETs) represent a significant opportunity for data analytics - promising the ability to perform complex calculations, aggregations and queries on disparate data sets, without compromising the security of personal data in any fashion.

Over the next four weeks our Head of Solutions, Chris Lewis, is going to be delving into the world of PETs - breaking this new and interesting technology down into bitesize episodes, covering:

  • Episode 1 - Introduction to PETs
  • Episode 2 - The current landscape for PETs
  • Episode 3 - Secure Multi-Party Computation - explained
  • Episode 4 - Zero-Knowledge Proof - explained
  • Episode 5 - Homomorphic Encryption - explained
  • Episode 6 - The conclusion for now

So, how do new and emerging Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PETs) stack up in the context of Economic Crime Prevention?

In Gartner Hype Cycle terms, new PETs have passed the “Peak of Inflated Expectations” and are, like blockchain, now in the preproduction stage for various prototypes and proofs of concept for different use cases.

A particular area ripe for exploration is in the world of fraud prevention and financial crime risk analysis - a significant market which carries both major investment and major challenges regarding data security, financial regulation and competitive risk.

However, as with any new technology, there are potential pitfalls that can be overlooked in favour of technological panacea.

Compatibility with legacy systems, access to skilled technical and analytical resource, and infrastructure cost to name just a few!

Notwithstanding the complex regulatory, legislative and operational environments that currently make up the global financial services landscape.

In parallel, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) have stated that sharing data to prevent fraud and financial crime1 (AKA Economic Crime)2 is essential within organisations, across organisations and across territories.

The wider geopolitical landscape necessitates an acceleration of this process. There is a key requirement to share more data, more frequently and at pace to prevent, detect and disrupt organised crime. All whilst maintaining privacy and data security for regular citizens – a difficult balancing act that PETs may help address.

The facts, however, remain stark – multiple £trillions of illicit funds flow through global financial services annually according to various sources, including the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime3.

But the monies recovered from serious and organised crime, actions of nation states and even opportunistic criminals are far outweighed by cost.

This series will evaluate a selection of PETs in the context of fraud and financial crime risk analysis, to help determine what opportunities PETs might provide, but also where traditional analytical and data matching techniques could be favourable as the PET landscape matures.

Next episode:

Episode 2 - The current landscape for PETs
Thursday 12th July 2022

Questions?

If you have any questions about how traditional analytical and data matching techniques can help you prevent fraud and understand your customers, click here to contact us.

 

In the meantime, please feel free to read more articles and thought pieces in the 'Our Thinking' section of our website.

More of 'Our Thinking'

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