Collection and Analysis of Multiple Data Sources

• US 20090144102A1
• Filed: 11/30/2007
• Published: 06/04/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bank of America Corp.
• Original Assignee: Bank of America Corp.
• Inventors: Lopez, Rolando R.
• Granted Patent: US 8,041,592 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/7
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/552 involving long-term monitoring or reporting
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063 Operations research, analysis or management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/20 for managing network security; network security policies in general filtering policies H04L63/0227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/302 gathering intelligence information for situation awareness or reconnaissance

Abstract

Communication data for an organization, such as call, email, and instant messaging activity data from different data sources is collected and analyzed together using a correlation and behavior analysis tool. A set of communication activity records and/or specific contact data information may be provided by the organization'"'"'s data sources or by an external law enforcement entity. The organization data may be analyzed according to rules and policies of data analysis and correlation using the multiple data sources to identify and report related communication activity or contact data to the internal personnel or external law enforcement for continued investigation in tracking fraud rings and other illegal activities.

Claims

1. A method of collecting and analyzing organization data, the method comprising:

receiving from multiple data sources data corresponding to communication records of an organization, the multiple data sources comprising two or more of a telephone activity data source, an email activity data source, and an instant messaging activity data source;

identifying a first contact data associated with a person in the organization, the first contact data comprising at least one of a name, telephone number, email address, and instant messaging user identifier;

performing an analysis on the data received from the multiple data sources corresponding to communication records of the organization using an automated correlation tool, wherein the analysis relates to the first contact data and comprises one or more of a trend analysis, a time analysis, and a pattern analysis; and

identifying, based on the analysis, a second contact data comprising at least one of a name, telephone number, email address, and instant messaging user identifier, wherein the second contact data is linked to the first contact data by the communication records of the organization.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising outputting a visual analysis comprising one or more charts of communication data corresponding to one or more people associated with at least one of the first and second contact data.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the analysis is performed by the organization as part of an internal fraud investigation, and wherein the first contact data has been identified as part of an investigation performed by an external law enforcement entity.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the organization is a business and the first and second contact data are both associated with an employee of the business, and wherein identifying the second contact data comprises receiving an additional data source corresponding to the internal corporate directory of the business.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein identifying the second contact data further comprises accessing an employee database or a human resources database of the business and retrieving employee data associated with the first contact data.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein performing the analysis comprises matching one or more of the communication records in the received data to a name in a case management table maintained by the organization for tracking internal fraud investigations.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the analysis comprises a 3-deep or greater pattern analysis.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the analysis comprises a key word search of the communication records associated with the first contact data.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein performing the analysis comprises matching a first communication record from a first data source with a second communication record from a second data source based on a determination that the first and second communications associated with the first and second communication records occurred within a predetermined time threshold.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein performing the analysis comprises identifying a repeating sequence of communication records, wherein a first repeating record in the sequence is associated with a first data source and a second repeating record in the sequence is associated with a second data source.

11. A computing device configured to collect and analyze organization data, the computing device comprising:

a processor controlling at least some operations of the computing device; and

a memory storing computer executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the device to perform a method comprising;

receiving from multiple data sources data corresponding to communication records of an organization, the multiple data sources comprising two or more of a telephone activity data source, an email activity data source, and an instant messaging activity data source;

identifying a first contact data associated with a person in the organization, the first contact data comprising at least one of a name, telephone number, email address, and instant messaging user identifier;

performing an analysis on the data received from the multiple data sources corresponding to communication records of the organization using an automated correlation tool, wherein the analysis relates to the first contact data and comprises one or more of a trend analysis, a time analysis, and a pattern analysis; and

identifying, based on the analysis, a second contact data comprising at least one of a name, telephone number, email address, and instant messaging user identifier, wherein the second contact data is linked to the first contact data by the communication records of the organization.

12. The computing device of claim 11, wherein the method further comprises outputting a visual analysis comprising one or more charts of communication data corresponding to one or more people associated with at least one of the first and second contact data.

13. The computing device of claim 11, wherein the organization is a business and the first and second contact data are both associated with an employee of the business, and wherein identifying the second contact data comprises receiving an additional data source corresponding to the internal corporate directory of the business.

14. The computing device of claim 13, wherein identifying the second contact data further comprises accessing an employee database or a human resources database of the business and retrieving employee data associated with the first contact data.

15. The computing device of claim 11, wherein performing the analysis comprises matching a first communication record from a first data source with a second communication record from a second data source based on a determination that the first and second communications associated with the first and second communication records occurred within a predetermined time threshold.

16. The computing device of claim 11, wherein performing the analysis comprises identifying a repeating sequence of communication records, wherein a first repeating record in the sequence is associated with a first data source and a second repeating record in the sequence is associated with a second data source.

17. One or more computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions which, when executed on a computer system, perform a method of collecting and analyzing organization data, the method comprising:

receiving from multiple data sources data corresponding to communication records of an organization, the multiple data sources comprising two or more of a telephone activity data source, an email activity data source, and an instant messaging activity data source;

identifying a first contact data associated with a person in the organization, the first contact data comprising at least one of a name, telephone number, email address, and instant messaging user identifier;

performing an analysis on the data received from the multiple data sources corresponding to communication records of the organization using an automated correlation tool, wherein the analysis relates to the first contact data and comprises one or more of a trend analysis, a time analysis, and a pattern analysis; and

identifying, based on the analysis, a second contact data comprising at least one of a name, telephone number, email address, and instant messaging user identifier, wherein the second contact data is linked to the first contact data by the communication records of the organization.

18. The computer-readable media of claim 17, wherein identifying the second contact data comprises receiving an additional data source corresponding to one of an internal corporate directory of the organization, an employee database of the organization, or a human resources database of the organization.

19. The computer-readable media of claim 17, wherein performing the analysis comprises matching a first communication record from a first data source with a second communication record from a second data source based on a determination that the first and second communications associated with the first and second communication records occurred within a predetermined time threshold.

20. The computer-readable media of claim 17, wherein performing the analysis comprises identifying a repeating sequence of communication records, wherein a first repeating record in the sequence is associated with a first data source and a second repeating record in the sequence is associated with a second data source.