ECG Unveiled: Analysis of Client Re-identification Risks in Real-World ECG Datasets




Wang, Ziyu; Kanduri, Anil; Aqajari, Seyed Amir Hossein; Jafarlou, Salar; Mousavi, Sanaz R.; Liljeberg, Pasi; Malik, Shaista; Rahmani, Amir M.

N/A

IEEE International Conference on Body Sensor Networks

2024

International Conference on Wearable and Implantable Body Sensor Networks

2024 IEEE 20th International Conference on Body Sensor Networks (BSN)

20

979-8-3315-3015-0

979-8-3315-3014-3

2376-8886

2376-8894

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1109/BSN63547.2024.10780752

https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10780752



While ECG data is crucial for diagnosing and monitoring heart conditions, it also contains unique biometric information that poses significant privacy risks. Existing ECG re-identification studies rely on exhaustive analysis of numerous deep learning features, confining to ad-hoc explainability towards clinicians decision making. In this work, we delve into explainability of ECG re-identification risks using transparent machine learning models. We use SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) analysis to identify and explain the key features contributing to re-identification risks. We conduct an empirical analysis of identity re-identification risks using ECG data from five diverse real-world datasets, encompassing 223 participants. By employing transparent machine learning models, we reveal the diversity among different ECG features in contributing towards re-identification of individuals with an accuracy of 0.76 for gender, 0.67 for age group, and 0.82 for participant ID re-identification. Our approach provides valuable insights for clinical experts and guides the development of effective privacy-preserving mechanisms. Further, our findings emphasize the necessity for robust privacy measures in real-world health applications and offer detailed, actionable insights for enhancing data anonymization techniques.



This research was funded by the US National Science Foundation under the Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace (SaTC) Grant CNS-2344869.


Last updated on 2025-27-01 at 19:45