Disclosed is a method for generating synthetic data from an aggregate dataset related to a plurality of entities. The method comprises defining a set of personas, selecting a network generation model, defining a network topology and generating the synthetic data. The set of personas is defined based on a number of the plurality of entities and/or a type of at least one of the plurality of entities. The network generation model is selected based on the defined set of personas and the aggregate dataset related thereto. The generated network topology comprises nodes and links between nodes using the selected network generation model. The node represents one of the personas in the set of personas. The link between two nodes represent one or more transactions between the personas represented by the two nodes. The generated synthetic data is based on information about distribution of the one or more transactions.