GenoDroid: are privacy-preserving genomic tests ready for prime time?

Details

Event International Workshop on Privacy in Electronic Society (WPES 2012)

Authors

Emiliano De Cristofaro
Technical Publications
October 15th 2012
Fast and accurate sequencing of human genomes is rapidly becoming affordable. It is expected that individuals will soon be able to carry around copies of their sequenced DNA, using it for medical, identification, and social purposes. This will undoubtedly prompt a wide range of new and interesting genomic applications. However, the very same progress raises some worrisome privacy issues, since a genome represents a treasure trove of highly personal and sensitive information. Some recent research explored privacy-preserving personal genomic operations by applying (or customizing) cryptographic protocols based on techniques such as: conditional oblivious transfer, garbled circuits, and homomorphic encryption. In this paper, we take this line of work a step further by investigating real-world practicality and usability of (as well as interest in) some of these methods. Motivated by both medical and social applications, we aim to test viability of privacy-agile computational genomic tests in a portable and pervasive setting of modern smartphones. We design a personal genomic toolkit (called GenoDroid), implement it on the Android platform, assess its performance and conduct a pilot usability study that yields some interesting results.

Citation

De Cristofaro, E.; Faber, S.; Gasti, P.; Tsudik, G. GenoDroid: are privacy-preserving genomic tests ready for prime time? International Workshop on Privacy in Electronic Society; 2012 October 15; Raleigh, NC.

Additional information

Focus Areas

Our work is centered around a series of Focus Areas that we believe are the future of science and technology.

FIND OUT MORE
Licensing & Commercialization Opportunities

We’re continually developing new technologies, many of which are available for Commercialization.

FIND OUT MORE
News

PARC scientists and staffers are active members and contributors to the science and technology communities.

FIND OUT MORE