US Patent 9202078 Data perturbation and anonymization using one way hash

An embodiment of the invention provides a method for anonymizing data from multiple data sources according to an embodiment of the invention. The data sources include record identifiers identifying entities associated with the data, wherein the record identifiers are only stored by the data sources. The data is collected by a central data aggregation module connected to the data sources. A record identifier is received by an anonymization engine from a first data source; and, a first anonymous identifier is generated with the anonymization engine to replace the record identifier. A map is sent to a mapping module if the anonymization engine has anonymized the record identifier before, wherein the map includes a list of anonymous identifiers that have been used to replace the record identifier. The first anonymous identifier and first data associated with the first anonymous identifier are sent to the data aggregation module.