On Partial Encryption of RDF-Graphs

In this paper a method for Partial RDF Encryption (PRE) is proposed in which sensitive data in an RDF-graph is encrypted for a set of recipients while all non-sensitive data remain publicly readable. The result is an RDF-compliant self-describing graph containing encrypted data, encryption metadata, and plaintext data. For the representation of encrypted data and encryption metadata, the XML-Encryption and XML-Signature recommendations are used. The proposed method allows for fine-grained encryption of arbitrary subjects, predicates, objects and subgraphs of an RDF-graph. An XML vocabulary for specifying encryption policies is introduced.