ICO recommends organisations start using privacy enhancing technologies when sharing data

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has made a new recommendation for organisations to use privacy enhancing technologies (PETs) to share people’s personal information securely.

The UK data protection authority’s new PETs guidance is aimed at data protection officers and others who are using large personal data sets in finance, healthcare, research, and central and local government.

PETs can be used to share anonymised personal information to detect and prevent financial crimes and related harms such as fraud, money laundering, and cybercrimes.

These technologies allow organisations to share, link and analyse people’s personal information without having access to it. They offer businesses a secure environment that builds data protection in from the beginning of a project and minimises unnecessary data being collected and retained when harnessing the power of personal data for innovative and trustworthy applications.

John Edwards, UK Information Commissioner, explained:

“If your organisation shares large volumes of data, particularly special category data, we recommend that over the next five years you start considering using PETs.

“PETs enable safe data sharing and allow organisations to make the best use of the personal data they hold, driving innovation.

“My office is committed to supporting UK businesses to develop and innovate with new technologies that respect people’s privacy and this guidance helps them to do that.”  

The new guidance comes as the Information Commissioner meets with counterparts from other G7 nations for a roundtable event in Tokyo to discuss international cooperation on data protection in light of emerging technologies such as AI, and the risks and opportunities they pose regulators and business in regard to handling personal data.

John Edwards continued:

“Together with our G7 counterparts, we are focused on facilitating and driving international support for responsible and innovative adoption of PETs, by researching and addressing barriers to adoption with clear guidance and examples of best practice.

“We are also looking ahead at emerging technologies, such as the rapid development and deployment of generative AI technologies, to ensure organisations across the world are innovating in a way that respects people’s information and privacy.”