METHOD AND APPARATUS TO DEFINE THE SCOPE OF A SEARCH FOR INFORMATION FROM A TABULAR DATA SOURCE

• US 20100083377A1
• Filed: 12/07/2009
• Published: 04/01/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/18/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CA, Inc. (d/b/a CA Technologies) (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Symantec Corporation (NortonLifeLock Inc.)
• Inventors: Wolfe, Michael R., Jones, Chris, Chen, Hai, Rowney, Kevin T., Kessler, Dirk, Bothwell, Eric
• Granted Patent: US 8,566,305 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/22
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/334 Query execution G06F16/335 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching

Abstract

A method and apparatus for defining the scope of a search is described. In one embodiment, user input is received, and the scope is defined, based on the user input, for a search of free-form text for information from any random rows within a tabular structure of source data. In one embodiment, the search is intended for finding, in the free-form text, a sub-set of data fragments that matches information from any single row within the tabular structure of the source data.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

monitoring, by a computer system, messages transmitted via a network for presence of pre-selected data, the pre-selected data being from a source having a tabular structure;

determining, by the computer system, that a message for transmission to a recipient via the network includes data fragments that match elements of the pre-selected data from at least one random row within the tabular structure of the source, the pre-selected data including security-sensitive information to be protected from being transmitted via the network; and

preventing, by the computer system, an unauthorized transmission of the pre-selected data to the recipient to prevent loss of the security-sensitive information.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein preventing the unauthorized transmission of the pre-selected data to the recipient comprises:

blocking a transmission of the message to the recipient.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein preventing the unauthorized transmission of the pre-selected data to the recipient comprises:

rerouting the message to a destination other than the recipient.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein preventing the unauthorized transmission of the pre-selected data to the recipient comprises:

intercepting the unauthorized transmission of the pre-selected data to the recipient.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein preventing the unauthorized transmission of the pre-selected data to the recipient comprises:

reporting the unauthorized transmission of the pre-selected data.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

applying a set of detection conditions to the message.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein applying a set of detection conditions to the message comprises:

determining whether a sender of the message has a history of prior violations.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the history of prior violations indicates at least one of a number of prior violations of the sender and a frequency of prior violations of the sender over a time period.

9. The method of claim 6 wherein applying a set of detection conditions to the message comprises:

determining at least one of a sender of the message and the recipient of the message.

10. The method of claim 6 wherein the set of detection conditions identifies groups of individuals and operations not allowed to be performed by the groups.

11. The method of claim 6 wherein the set of detection conditions pertains to at least one of an expression pattern, a message attachment type, a message size, a transmission time, and an origin of the message.

12. A system comprising:

a memory;

a processor, coupled to the memory; and

a data monitoring system, executed from the memory by the processor, to;

monitor messages transmitted via a network for presence of pre-selected data, the pre-selected data being from a source having a tabular structure,

determine that a message for transmission to a recipient via the network includes data fragments that match elements of the pre-selected data from at least one random row within the tabular structure of the source, the pre-selected data including security-sensitive information to be protected from being transmitted via the network; and

prevent an unauthorized transmission of the pre-selected data to the recipient to prevent loss of the security-sensitive information.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein the data monitoring system is to prevent the unauthorized transmission of the pre-selected data to the recipient by at least one of:

blocking a transmission of the message to the recipient;

rerouting the message to a destination other than the recipient;

intercepting the unauthorized transmission of the pre-selected data to the recipient; and

.

reporting the unauthorized transmission of the pre-selected data.

14. The system of claim 12 wherein the data monitoring system is further to apply a set of detection conditions to the message.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein the set of detection conditions pertains to at least one of:

a sender of the message;

the recipient of the message;

a history of prior violations of the sender;

an expression pattern;

a message attachment type;

a message size;

a transmission time; and

an origin of the message.

16. The system of claim 14 wherein the set of detection conditions identifies groups of individuals and operations not allowed to be performed by the groups.

17. A computer readable storage medium that provides instructions, which when executed on a processing system cause the processing system to perform a method comprising:

monitoring messages transmitted via a network for presence of pre-selected data, the pre-selected data being from a source having a tabular structure;

determining that a message for transmission to a recipient via the network includes data fragments that match elements of the pre-selected data from at least one random row within the tabular structure of the source, the pre-selected data including security-sensitive information to be protected from being transmitted via the network; and

preventing an unauthorized transmission of the pre-selected data to the recipient to prevent loss of the security-sensitive information.

18. The computer readable storage medium of claim 17 wherein preventing the unauthorized transmission of the pre-selected data to the recipient comprises at least one of:

blocking a transmission of the message to the recipient;

rerouting the message to a destination other than the recipient;

intercepting the unauthorized transmission of the pre-selected data to the recipient; and

reporting the unauthorized transmission of the pre-selected data.

19. The computer readable storage medium of claim 18 wherein the method further comprises:

applying a set of detection conditions to the message.

20. The computer readable storage medium of claim 19 wherein the set of detection conditions pertains to at least one of:

a sender of the message;

the recipient of the message;

a history of prior violations of the sender;

an expression pattern;

a message attachment type;

a message size;

a transmission time;

an origin of the message; and

operations not allowed to be performed by groups of individuals.