DPShield: Optimizing Differential Privacy for High-Utility Data Analysis in Sensitive Domains

Abstract

The proliferation of cloud computing has amplified the need for robust privacy-preserving technologies, particularly when dealing with sensitive financial and human resources (HR) data. However, traditional differential privacy methods often struggle to balance rigorous privacy protections with maintaining data utility. This study introduces DPShield, an optimized adaptive framework that enhances the trade-off between privacy guarantees and data utility in cloud environments. DPShield leverages advanced differential privacy techniques, including dynamic noise-injection mechanisms tailored to data sensitivity, cumulative privacy loss tracking, and domain-specific optimizations. Through comprehensive evaluations on synthetic financial and real-world HR datasets, DPShield demonstrated a remarkable 21.7% improvement in aggregate query accuracy over existing differential privacy approaches. Moreover, it maintained machine learning model accuracy within 5% of non-private benchmarks, ensuring high utility for predictive analytics. These achievements signify a major advancement in differential privacy, offering a scalable solution that harmonizes robust privacy assurances with practical data analysis needs. DPShield’s domain adaptability and seamless integration with cloud architectures underscore its potential as a versatile privacy-enhancing tool. This work bridges the gap between theoretical privacy guarantees and practical implementation demands, paving the way for more secure, ethical, and insightful data usage in cloud computing environments.