A data cleanroom is a secure and protected environment where data can be shared among different users or companies without exposing personally identifiable information, known as PII. PII would include anything that would let someone track data back to another individual in the room, including names, addresses, email addresses, contact information, or location information. Data cleanrooms allow individuals or organizations to combine datasets and draw analysis from the combined datasets while maintaining privacy and keeping in line with data protection regulations.
Data cleanrooms maintain many key features in order to ensure the utmost privacy for those using them. Data is strictly anonymized and encrypted, ensuring data cannot be tracked back to any one individual or organization. Access to data cleanrooms is strictly controlled, to ensure that only authorized users have access to the data. Finally, data cleanrooms are designed to comply with whatever relevant data protection regulations are necessary for the type of data being worked on. For example, if medical data is being analyzed, the data cleanroom will be in line with HIPPA.
Data cleanrooms are used across a variety of industries. Organizations in industries from advertising to healthcare to academic research benefit from sharing data with each other anonymously.