Secure processing of secure information in a non-secure environment

• US 20080155540A1
• Filed: 12/20/2006
• Published: 06/26/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/20/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DST Technologies, Inc. (SS&C Technologies Holdings Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: DST Technologies, Inc. (SS&C Technologies Holdings Incorporated)
• Inventors: Shelby, Tracy Wayne, Mock, James Robert, Metzger, Michael G., Sherry, Devin Todd, Hudgins, Michael C., Gentry, Michael V., Clark, Peter E.
• Granted Patent: US 8,793,756 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/100
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/60 Protecting data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063112 Skill-based matching of a person or a group to a task

Abstract

A secured process sourcing and work management system for processing secure information in a non-secure environment is disclosed. The system permits a user, referred to herein as a customer or requester, to submit a project, involving a human intelligence task (“HIT”), referred to as a task or task specification, to be performed with respect to secure, confidential or sensitive information, referred to herein as secure information, and have that project completed in a non-secure environment without compromising the security, confidentiality or sensitivity of the secure information. The system may be incorporated into the requestor'"'"'s workflow, receiving projects therefrom and providing the results thereto. Further, a system is disclosed for implementing a processing workflow for such tasks, the system permitting, based on projects submitted by requestors, the “posting” or distribution of jobs, and subsequent management thereof, to be performed by a workforce operating in or via a non-secure-environment, while protecting the underlying security, confidentiality or sensitivity of the overall project.

Claims

1. A method of completing a task in a non-secure environment with respect to a secure object, the method comprising:

receiving, in a secure environment, the secure object with respect to which the task is to be performed;

dividing the secure object into at least one or more secure sub-objects each comprising data and a context associated therewith, the context characterizing the data as secure;

disassociating each data of the one or more sub-objects from the associated context, the secure characterization of the data being substantially non-discernable from the disassociated data, the task comprising one or more sub-tasks to be performed with respect to the disassociated data of each of the one or more secure sub-objects; and

distributing to the non-secure environment at least one of the disassociated data such that the respective sub-task may be performed with respect thereto, and wherein the ability to discern the secure characterization of the data in the non-secure environment is substantially reduced.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving, in the secure environment, a specification of the task; and

dividing the task into the one or more sub-tasks to be performed with respect to the disassociated data of each of the one or more secure sub-objects.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the distributing further comprises distributing the respective sub-task along with the at least one of the disassociated data with respect to which the respective sub-task is to be performed.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving the results of the performance of each sub-task; and

compiling the results, the compilation being substantially similar to a result of the completion of the task on the secure object.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the secure object comprises computer incomprehensible information, the task comprises converting the computer incomprehensible information into computer comprehensible information.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the task comprises data entry, conversion, translation, verification, transcription, analysis, identification, description, indexing, categorization, classification, selection, separation, isolation, recognition, sorting, correction, relation, opining, assessment, judgment or combinations thereof.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the context comprises an attribute of the associated data.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the disassociating further comprises separating the attribute from the data.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein the attribute comprises a characteristic of the data, a label associated with the data, a tag associated with the data, a type associated with the data, a source of the data, a destination of the data, the data of another secure sub-object or a combination thereof.

10. The method of claim 7 wherein the attribute comprises a number of alphanumeric digits in the data.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the disassociating further comprises dividing the data into at least two disassociated data, each of the at least two disassociated data comprising a sub-set of the number of alphanumeric digits such that the number of alphanumeric digits in the data cannot be discerned from each sub-set alone.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the secure object comprises a representation of a handwriting, a picture, an image, a facsimile, a document, an audio recording, a video recording, or combinations thereof.

13. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

arranging for the performance of the sub-task with respect to the at least one of the disassociated data with an available participant of a workforce, the available participant being unaware of the secure characterization of the data; and

the distributing further comprises distributing the at least one of the disassociated data to the available participant.

14. A system for facilitating completion of a task in a non-secure environment with respect to a secure object, the system comprising:

a project receiver operative to receive, in a secure environment, the secure object with respect to which the task is to be performed;

an object separator coupled with the project receiver and operative to divide the secure object into at least one or more secure sub-objects each comprising data and a context associated therewith, the context characterizing the data as secure;

an object disassociator coupled with the object separator and operative to disassociate each data of the one or more sub-objects from the associated context, the secure characterization of the data being substantially non-discernable from the disassociated data, the task comprising one or more sub-tasks to be performed with respect to the disassociated data of each of the one or more secure sub-objects; and

a distributor coupled with the object disassociator and the task divider and operative to distribute to the non-secure environment at least one of the disassociated data such that the respective sub-task may be performed with respect thereto, and wherein the ability to discern the secure characterization of the data in the non-secure environment is substantially reduced.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein the project receiver is further operative to receive, in the secure environment, a specification of the task, the system further comprising a task divider coupled with the project receiver and operative to divide the task into the one or more sub-tasks to be performed with respect to the disassociated data of each of the one or more secure sub-objects.

16. The system of claim 14 wherein the distributor is further operative to distribute the respective sub-task along with the at least one of the disassociated data with respect to which the respective sub-task is to be performed.

17. The system of claim 14 further comprising:

a result receiver operative to receive the results of the performance of each sub-task; and

a result compiler operative to compile the results, the compilation being substantially similar to a result of the completion of the task on the secure object.

18. The system of claim 14 wherein the secure object comprises computer incomprehensible information, the task comprises converting the computer incomprehensible information into computer comprehensible information.

19. The system of claim 14 wherein the task comprises data entry, conversion, translation, verification, transcription, analysis, identification, description, indexing, categorization, classification, selection, separation, isolation, recognition, sorting, correction, relation, opining, assessment, judgment or combinations thereof.

20. The system of claim 14 wherein the context comprises an attribute of the associated data.

21. The system of claim 20 wherein the object disassociator is further operative to separate the attribute from the data.

22. The system of claim 20 wherein the attribute comprises a characteristic of the data, a label associated with the data, a tag associated with the data, a type associated with the data, a source of the data, a destination of the data, the data of another secure sub-object or a combination thereof.

23. The system of claim 20 wherein the attribute comprises a number of alphanumeric digits in the data.

24. The system of claim 23 wherein the object disassociator is further operative to divide the data into at least two disassociated data, each of the at least two disassociated data comprising a sub-set of the number of alphanumeric digits such that the number of alphanumeric digits in the data cannot be discerned from each sub-set alone.

25. The system of claim 14 wherein the secure object comprises a representation of a handwriting, a picture, an image, a facsimile, a document, an audio recording, a video recording, or combinations thereof.

26. The system of claim 14 wherein the distributor is further operative to arrange for the performance of the sub-task with respect to the at least one of the disassociated data with an available participant of a workforce, the available participant being unaware of the secure characterization of the data wherein the distributor is further operative to distribute the at least one of the disassociated data and a specification of the respective sub-task to be performed with respect thereto to the available participant.

27. A system for facilitating completion of a task in a non-secure environment with respect to a secure object, the system comprising:

means for receiving, in a secure environment, the secure object with respect to which the task is to be performed;

means for dividing the secure object into at least one or more secure sub-objects each comprising data and a context associated therewith, the context characterizing the data as secure;

means for disassociating each data of the one or more sub-objects from the associated context, the secure characterization of the data being substantially non-discernable from the disassociated data, the task comprising one or more sub-tasks to be performed with respect to the disassociated data of each of the one or more secure sub-objects; and

means for distributing to the non-secure environment at least one of the disassociated data such that the respective sub-task may be performed with respect thereto, and wherein the ability to discern the secure characterization of the data in the non-secure environment is substantially reduced.

28. A system for facilitating completion of a task in a non-secure environment with respect to a secure object, the system comprising a processor and a memory coupled with the processor, the system further comprising:

first logic stored in the memory and executable by the processor to receive, in a secure environment, the secure object with respect to which the task is to be performed;

second logic stored in the memory and executable by the processor to divide the secure object into at least one or more secure sub-objects each comprising data and a context associated therewith, the context characterizing the data as secure;

third logic stored in the memory and executable by the processor to disassociate each data of the one or more sub-objects from the associated context, the secure characterization of the data being substantially non-discernable from the disassociated data, the task comprising one or more sub-tasks to be performed with respect to the disassociated data of each of the one or more secure sub-objects; and

fourth logic stored in the memory and executable by the processor to distribute to the non-secure environment at least one of the disassociated data such that the respective sub-task may be performed with respect thereto, and wherein the ability to discern the secure characterization of the data in the non-secure environment is substantially reduced.