Reusable Elements for the Systematic Design of Privacy-Friendly Information Systems: A Mapping Study

Privacy by design is a new paradigm that promotes embedding privacy considerations throughout the development of information systems, to protect user privacy. Privacy engineering is the nascent field of research and practice that aims to realize this new paradigm systematically and efficiently, by delivering reusable elements such as methods, techniques, and tools that software and systems engineers can apply in their daily work. However, as a new field, its contributions are still scattered, and there is little information on their quantity or maturity. To bridge this gap, we have carried out a systematic mapping study to provide engineers and researchers with a snapshot of the reusable elements available for the systematic design of privacy-friendly software-based information systems. The results show that there is an emerging and growing interest in the field, being privacy patterns, the hottest research topic. However, the maturity of some of the contributions found is still low as they usually lack empirical evidence that demonstrates their benefits, which may hinder their adoption in practice. In this paper, we describe the most advanced research areas and discuss some of the gaps found, suggesting areas where researchers and funding institutions can focus their efforts.