Method and device for data protection

• US 20050081033A1
• Filed: 10/17/2002
• Published: 04/14/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 10/19/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: STS Group
• Original Assignee: STS Group
• Inventors: Baumard, Philippe, Viot, Marc
• Granted Patent: US 7,716,478 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/170
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/56 Financial cryptography, e.g. electronic payment or e-cash
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/60 Digital content management, e.g. content distribution
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3247 involving digital signatures
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3263 involving certificates, e.g. public key certificate [PKC] or attribute certificate [AC]; Public key infrastructure [PKI] arrangements network architectures or network communication protocols for supporting authentication of entities using certificates in a packet data network H04L63/0823
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3297 involving time stamps, e.g. generation of time stamps

Abstract

The method for protecting data includes: assigning in the IT system of an author user, digital conditioning attributes of the data, corresponding to at least one predetermined event that is liable to affect the data in future use, attributing in the IT system, information that secures data integrity, setting up in the IT system, an envelope file carrying data, digital conditioning attributes affected to the data and information that secures data integrity, storing in a remote IT system, digital conditioning attributes affected to the data and information that secures data integrity, for each predetermined event related to the data, storing in the remote IT system an identifier of the event and its date, and at each connection, storing predetermined events corresponding to data attributes, in the IT system of the author, so that the IT system keeps track, for each event regarding data, the identifier of the event, the identifier of the user at the origin of the event and its date.

Claims

1. A process for protecting data, characterized by:

a step of assigning (310), in the IT system of an author user, attributes referred to as <

<

digital conditioning>

>

of said data, attributes corresponding to at least one predetermined event that is liable to affect said data in the course of their future use,

a step of attributing (312), in the IT system of an author user, information that secures the integrity of said data,

a step of setting up a file called <

<

envelope>

>

(315), in the IT system of an author user, envelope carrying data, digital conditioning attributes affected to said data and information that secures the integrity of said data,

a step of storing (316), in a remote IT system, digital conditioning attributes affected to said data and information that secures the integrity of said data,

for each predetermined event related to said data, a step of storage (326), in the remote IT system and in relation with the attributes of said data, of an identifier of said event and of the date of said event, and

at each connection between the author'"'"'s IT system and the remote IT system, a step of storing (332) predetermined events corresponding to the attributes of the data, in the IT system of the author, so that the IT system of the author keeps track, for each event regarding said data, of the identifier of said event, the identifier of the user at the origin of the event and the date of said event.

2. A process according to claim 1, characterized in that, during the attribution of digital conditioning attributes, the attributes of said data include an identifier of the author of the data.

3. A process according to claim 1, characterized in that, during the attribution of digital conditioning attributes, the attributes of said data include an identifier for each future user, signatory or recipient, of said data.

4. A process according to claim 1, characterized in that each event regarding said data can only be set, by a future user, during a connection between the IT system of said future user and the remote IT system.

5. A process according to claim 1, characterized in that, during the step of storing, in the remote IT system, the event identifier (326), the remote IT system also stores an identifier of the user at the origin of said event.

6. A process according to claim 1, characterized in that it includes a step of determining the usage conditions of said data, by the IT system of an author user, and, upon each access query to said data, a step of checking that the usage conditions of the data are met.

7. A process according to claim 6, characterized in that the usage conditions include identification conditions of the future user.

8. A process according to claim 7, characterized in that, identification conditions of the user include, at least, the implementation of a digital certificate identifying the IT system of the future user.

9. A process according to claim 7, characterized in that, identification conditions of the user include, at least, the implementation of a digital signature identifying the IT system of the future user.

10. A process according to claim 6, characterized in that, usage conditions of the user include or not a right, to edit said data.

11. A process according to claim 1, characterized in that, during at least one part, for instance the digital signature, of the events affecting said data, a transmission step, to the author user, of an acknowledgement receipt identifying the recipient future user who triggered said event (330).

12. A process according to claim 1, characterized in that, when, during a predetermined event, said data is modified by the recipient future user, the remote IT system goes through the step of storing the modifications made to said data (328).

13. A process according to claim 1, characterized in that the digital conditioning attributes determine which future users will be authorised to sign the data.

14. A process according to claim 1, characterized in that, or at least one predetermined event, the digital conditioning attributes allocated during the step of attributing data attributes, represent a usage condition of said data.

15. A process according to claim 1, characterized in that the process includes a step of transmitting, to each author user and to each signatory user, an identifier of at least one predetermined event, the date of each predetermined event and the identification of the future user triggering the event (330).

16. A process according to claim 15, characterized in that also, a step of bundling said events with said envelope, in each IT system of each author and of each signatory user.