Minimizing Security Risk Areas revealed by Data mining

The main reason for doing Data Mining is for knowledge discovery which means Data Mining finds ‘knowledge’ that is otherwise hidden by large volumes of data. When mining for hidden knowledge causes a potential security risk if the knowledge is hidden, how do we know that a security risk exists? Interesting is where the security of individual data items is not a concern, but there may be patterns in the mined data that pose a security risk. This article will present an example where data mining causes an information security risk under these circumstances. The question will then be asked: What can one do about information security risk problems that surfaces while doing ‘normal and legal’ data mining? No answer will be given at this stage but in stead, the initial stages of this research will be explained namely looking at the Information Security Services and how do they cross reference with the Data Mining Process. 2 M. LOOCK, J.H.P. ELOFF