DATA OBFUSCATION OF TEXT DATA USING ENTITY DETECTION AND REPLACEMENT

• US 20080118150A1
• Filed: 11/22/2006
• Published: 05/22/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/22/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Datta, Souptik, Ananthanarayanan, Rema, Balakrishnan, Sreeram Viswanath
• Granted Patent: US 7,724,918 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/176
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/62 Protecting access to data via a platform, e.g. using keys or access control rules
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6209 to a single file or object, e.g. in a secure envelope, encrypted and accessed using a key, or with access control rules appended to the object itself
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6254 by anonymising data, e.g. decorrelating personal data from the owner's identification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/157 using dictionaries or tables

Abstract

Data obfuscation of text data using entity detection and replacement A data obfuscation method, apparatus and computer program product are disclosed in which at least selected text entities such as words or abbreviations in a document are obfuscated to prevent the disclosure of private information if the document is disclosed. A user establishes various configuration parameters for selected text entities desired to obfuscated. The document is processed and text entities matching the configuration parameters are tagged for obfuscation. The tagged entities are then substituted in the document with obfuscating text. The obfuscating text can be derived from a hash table. The hash table may be used to provide a reverse obfuscation method by which original data can be restored to an obfuscated document.

Claims

1. A method of selectively obfuscating text data in a document, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) identifying configuration parameters to be used in said obfuscation;

(b) identifying text data in said document for obfuscation using said identified configuration parameters;

(c) transforming said identified text data using obfuscating data associated with at least one of said configuration parameters; and

(d) substituting said transformed data form the respective said identified text data into said document.

2. The method according to claim 1 wherein the configuration parameters include at least predetermined text entity types for obfuscation.

3. The method according to claim 1 wherein step (b) comprises annotating each identified text data in the document with a respective tag.

4. The method according to claim 3 wherein the corresponding tag includes information of a configuration parameter by which the annotated text data was identified.

5. The method according to claim 4 wherein step (c) comprises using the tag to access a data source from which corresponding obfuscating data is selected for substitution of said annotated text data in the document.

6. The method according to claim 5 wherein selection of the obfuscating data from the data source is performed by a hash function.

7. The method according to claim 5 wherein each said configuration parameter has a corresponding said data source.

8. The method according to claim 6 wherein said hash function comprises a mapping from text data associated with the corresponding tag and obfuscating data.

9. The method according to claim 8 wherein the mapping retains a record of at least the text data for which obfuscation data was substituted into said document.

10. A method of restoring an obfuscated document to an original form, said method comprising the steps of:

(a) sequentially parsing said obfuscated document to examine text entities in the document;

(b) determining whether a current text entity in said document is found in a hash table used in formation of said obfuscated document;

(c) selecting a next text entity and repeating step (b) where the current text entity is not found in the hash table;

(d) obtaining a text entity corresponding to the current text entity from the hash table;

(e) substituting said obtained text entity into said document in place of said current text entity; and

(f) repeating steps (a)-(e) until the entire document has been parsed.

11. A computer readable medium having a computer program recorded thereon, the program being executable by a computer to selectively obfuscating text data in a document, said program comprising:

code means for identifying configuration parameters to be used in said obfuscation;

code means for identifying text data in said document for obfuscation using said identified configuration parameters;

code means for transforming said identified text data using obfuscating data associated with at least one of said configuration parameters; and

code means for substituting said transformed data form the respective said identified text data in said document.

12. Computer apparatus for selectively obfuscating text data in a document, said apparatus comprising:

means for identifying configuration parameters to be used in said obfuscation;

means for identifying text data in said document for obfuscation using said identified configuration parameters;

means for transforming said identified text data using obfuscating data associated with at least one of said configuration parameters; and

means for substituting said transformed data form the respective said identified text data in said document.

13. An obfuscated document formed by the method of:

(a) identifying configuration parameters to be used in said obfuscation;

(b) identifying text data in said document for obfuscation using said identified configuration parameters;

(c) transforming said identified text data using obfuscating data associated with at least one of said configuration parameters; and

(d) substituting said transformed data form the respective said identified text data in said document.