Privacy and security in personal data clouds : final report

For the purposes of this study, Personal Data Clouds ("PDCs") are defined as technological solutions aiming to provide to end-users the typical data collection and storage capabilities of data management systems but also, to help end-users regain control over their data. Accordingly, PDCs are ideally embedded by privacy-enhancing elements allowing individuals to determine on their own how they want their data to be managed in and outside of the solution and with whom they should be shared. The main objective of the study is to identify the different architectures and components of PDCs and discuss their privacy and security challenges. Based on an empirical analysis of various applications that fall under, or are close to, the definition of PDCs, the study presents a "state of the art" analysis of the security and privacy features of PDCs. It assesses to what extent current PDC solutions, either available on the market or in a research and development phase, are supported by functionalities that enhance the level of security and privacy they offer to their users by enabling the latter to take decisions over their data and, ideally, enforce them (user centric model). Given that mobile health applications have been gaining considerable attention nowadays, especially through the data storage and communication capabilities of wearables, the study identifies in particular privacy-enhancing features already adopted by certain PDCs in the health sector.