Inference Control

Statistical Databases are used to provide Statistical Information or Summaries of values based on various criteria may provide statistics based on age groups, income levels, household size, education levels, and other criteria.

Statistical Database Users such as government statisticians or market research firms are allowed to access the database to retrieve statistical information about a population but not to access the detailed confidential information about specific individuals.

Security for statistical databases must ensure that information about individuals cannot be accessed. It is sometimes possible to deduce or infer certain facts concerning individuals from queries that involve only summary statistics on groups; consequently, this must not be permitted either. This problem, called Statistical Database Security. The corresponding control measures are called Inference Control Measures.