Data Mining and Homeland Security : An Overview (RL31798) / Jeffrey W. Seifert, Library of Congress Congressional Research Service.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Seifert, Jeffrey W., author.

Contributor:

Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service, issuing body.

Series:

CRS report for Congress ; RL31798.

CRS report for Congress ; RL31798

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Data mining--United States.

Data mining.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (24 pages).

Place of Publication:

Washington, District of Colombia : Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress, 2006.

Summary:

Data mining has become one of the key features of many homeland security initiatives. Often used as a means for detecting fraud, assessing risk, and product retailing, data mining involves the use of data analysis tools to discover previously unknown, valid patterns and relationships in large data sets. In the context of homeland security, data mining can be a potential means to identify terrorist activities, such as money transfers and communications, and to identify and track individual terrorists themselves, such as through travel and immigration records. While data mining represents a significant advance in the type of analytical tools currently available, there are limitations to its capability. One limitation is that although data mining can help reveal patterns and relationships, it does not tell the user the value or significance of these patterns. These types of determinations must be made by the user. A second limitation is that while data mining can identify connections between behaviors and/or variables, ti does not necessarily identify a causal relationship. Successful data mining still requires skilled technical and analytical specialists who can structure the analysis and interpret the output.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.