A Study on the Prevalence of Privacy in Software Engineering

Abstract

The continuous growth and widespread use of digital technologies have made the protection of personal data and individual rights one of the major concerns when developing software systems and applications. Furthermore, data protection regulations and privacy standards have imposed additional responsibilities on software engineers. Failure to achieve these privacy and regulatory requirements can lead to user dissatisfaction, damage to organisations’ reputation, and potential legal non-compliance. Software engineering (SE) researchers have been exploring various aspects to address privacy concerns in software development. To provide the SE community a comprehensive overview of the prevalence of privacy considerations in SE research, we conducted a systematic mapping study following well-established guidelines for collecting and categorising primary studies. Our study identified 187 primary studies and categorised their contributions based on various perspectives. Our results reveal the following key findings: (a) privacy considerations are prevalent in 12.14% of all possible primary studies; (b) the most common type of problems, contributions and validation methods employed; and (c) the distribution of focus and scope in primary studies as well as the potential directions for future research. These findings offer both quantitative and qualitative insights of trends and opportunities that can benefit both SE researchers, academics and practitioners.