Remote data access and the risk of disclosure from linear regression

Abstract

In the endeavor of finding ways for easy data access for external researchers remote data access seems to be an attractive alternative to the current standard of data perturbation or restricted access only at designated data archives or research data centers. However, even if the microdata are not available directly, disclosure of sensitive information is still possible. We illustrate that an ill-intentioned user could use some commonly available background information to reveal sensitive information using simple linear regression. We demonstrate the real risks from this approach with an empirical evaluation based on a German establishment survey, the IAB Establishment Panel