Introducing secure provenance

TLDR

Data provenance records ownership history and actions on an item and is widely used in archives, art, archaeology, forensics, scientific computing, and legal contexts, yet its security and privacy aspects remain largely unexplored. This position paper defines the secure provenance problem and argues for its critical importance across many applications. We discuss selected issues related to preserving the privacy and integrity of provenance information.

Abstract

Data provenance summarizes the history of the ownership of the item, as well as the actions performed on it. While widely used in archives, art, and archeology, provenance is also very important in forensics, scientific computing, and legal proceedings involving data. Significant research has been conducted in this area, yet the security and privacy issues of provenance have not been explored. In this position paper, we define the secure provenance problem and argue that it is of vital importance in numerous applications. We then discuss a select few of the issues related to ensuring the privacy and integrity of provenance information.