Question

A retail analytics team wants to share a customer dataset with an external research firm to study purchasing trends. The team removes names, emails, and account numbers but retains ZIP code, birth date, and gender. A privacy engineer reviewing the plan is concerned the dataset may still permit re-identification. Which action BEST addresses the engineer's concern before the data is shared?

Accepted Answer

Apply generalization and suppression to the quasi-identifiers so the dataset meets a defined re-identification risk threshold (e.g., k-anonymity)

Answer

Encrypt the dataset in transit and require the research firm to sign a confidentiality agreement

Answer

Replace the ZIP code, birth date, and gender with reversible pseudonyms stored in a separate key vault

Answer

Add the direct identifiers back and rely on the research firm's access controls to limit exposure