Systems and Methods for Risk Based Information Management

• US 20070266032A1
• Filed: 10/31/2006
• Published: 11/15/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 11/17/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Micro Focus LLC (Open Text Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Iron Mountain Incorporated
• Inventors: Blumenau, Steven
• Granted Patent: US 7,792,757 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/125 characterised by the use of retention policies retention policies for HSM systems G06F16/185
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/182 Distributed file systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/10 Protecting distributed programs or content, e.g. vending or licensing of copyrighted material protection in video systems or pay television H04N7/16 ; Digital rights management [DRM]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/16 Program or content traceability, e.g. by watermarking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6218 to a system of files or objects, e.g. local or distributed file system or database
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2101 Auditing as a secondary aspect
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2135 Metering
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2137 Time limited access, e.g. to a computer or data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2143 Clearing memory, e.g. to prevent the data from being stolen
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]

Abstract

Systems and methods for managing digital assets in a distributed computing environment are described. Meta-data for the digital assets is stored separately from the digital assets. Meta-data for some of the digital assets is copied and stored at a central location. Meta-data for the digital assets is generated by clients of the system. A risk-based method for storing digital assets in a distributed digital asset management environment includes: receiving, by a server from a client, an asset identification tag associated with a digital asset stored on the client; identifying a risk-management policy corresponding to the client and the digital asset; and transmitting, in response to the risk-management policy, a command to transfer the digital asset to the server. The server may then store the digital asset, and the client may delete the digital asset. Corresponding systems and computer readable media are also described.

Claims

1. A risk-based method for storing digital assets in a distributed digital asset management environment, the method comprising:

(a) receiving, by a server from a client, an asset identification tag associated with a digital asset stored on the client;

(b) identifying, by the server, a risk-management policy corresponding to the client and the digital asset; and

(c) transmitting, by the server to the client in response to the risk-management policy, a command to transfer the digital asset to the server.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the risk-management policy comprises a policy to remove digital assets from clients after a given time period.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the risk-management policy comprises a policy to remove digital assets from clients if the digital asset is unused for more than a given time period.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the risk-management policy comprises a policy to remove a given type of digital asset from the client.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the risk-management policy comprises a policy to remove one or more digital assets in response to an indication that the client may be in an insecure location.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of receiving, by the server, the digital asset.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising the step of storing, by the server, the digital asset.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising the step of deleting, by the client, the digital asset.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the transfer and deletion of the digital asset are performed transparently to a user of the client.

10. A risk-based system for storing digital assets in a distributed digital asset management environment, the system comprising:

a client which transmits, to a server, an asset identification tag associated with a digital asset stored on the client; and

a server which stores the asset identification tag;

identifies a risk-management policy corresponding to the client and the digital asset; and

transmits, to the client in response to the risk-management policy, a command to transfer the digital asset to the server.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the risk-management policy comprises a policy to remove digital assets from clients after a given time period.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the risk-management policy comprises a policy to remove digital assets from clients if the digital asset is unused for more than a given time period.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the risk-management policy comprises a policy to remove a given type of digital asset from the client.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the risk-management policy comprises a policy to remove one or more digital assets in response to an indication that the client may be in an insecure location.

15. The system of claim 10, further comprising the step of receiving, by the server, the digital asset.

16. The system of claim 15, further comprising the step of storing, by the server, the digital asset.

17. The system of claim 15, further comprising the step of deleting, by the client, the digital asset.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the transfer and deletion of the digital asset are performed transparently to a user of the client.

19. A computer readable medium having executable instructions thereon to store digital assets in a distributed digital asset management environment based on risk, the computer readable medium comprising:

(a) instructions to receive, by a server from a client, an asset identification tag associated with a digital asset stored on the client;

(b) instructions to identify, by the server, a risk-management policy corresponding to the client and the digital asset; and

(c) instructions to transmit, by the server to the client in response to the risk-management policy, a command to transfer the digital asset to the server.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 19, wherein the risk-management policy comprises a policy to remove digital assets from clients after a given time period.

21. The computer readable medium of claim 19, wherein the risk-management policy comprises a policy to remove digital assets from clients if the digital asset is unused for more than a given time period.

22. The computer readable medium of claim 19, wherein the risk-management policy comprises a policy to remove a given type of digital asset from the client.

23. The computer readable medium of claim 19, wherein the risk-management policy comprises a policy to remove one or more digital assets in response to an indication that the client may be in an insecure location.

24. The computer readable medium of claim 19, further comprising instructions to receive, by the server, the digital asset.

25. The computer readable medium of claim 24, further comprising instructions to store, by the server, the digital asset.

26. The computer readable medium of claim 24, further comprising instructions to delete, by the client, the digital asset.

27. The computer readable medium of claim 26, wherein the transfer and deletion of the digital asset are performed transparently to a user of the client.