Method and System for Policy Driven Data Disclosure

• US 20110162089A1
• Filed: 12/29/2009
• Published: 06/30/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/29/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Miyamoto, Masakazu, Jones, Donald N., Hinton, Heather M.
• Granted Patent: US 8,615,792 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/30
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6218 to a system of files or objects, e.g. local or distributed file system or database

Abstract

A method, system and computer-usable medium are disclosed for controlling access to attribute information. A request is received from an application for attribute information. An attribute release policy associated with the requesting application is used to filter attributes stored in a datastore. The filtered attributes are then provided to the requesting application.

Claims

1. A computer-implementable method for controlling the distribution of data, comprising:

receiving a request from a first application for attribute information;

filtering the attributes stored in a first datastore according to a first attribute release policy to generate a first set of filtered attributes; and

providing the first set of filtered attributes to the first application.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

a request is received from a second application for attribute information stored in the first datastore;

the attributes stored in the first datastore are filtered according to a second attribute release policy to generate a second set of filtered attributes; and

the second set of filtered attributes is provided to a second application.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein:

a request is received from a second application for attribute information stored in a second datastore;

the attributes stored in the second datastore are filtered according to a second attribute release policy to generate a second set of filtered data; and

the second set of filtered attributes is provided to a second application.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing the first set of filtered attributes to a second datastore;

filtering the first set of filtered attributes according to a second attribute release policy to generate a second set of filtered attributes; and

providing the second set of filtered attributes to a second application.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the first attribute release policy is centralized and the second attribute release policy is distributed.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the first attribute release policy is used to update the second attribute release policy.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the second attribute release policy is associated with the second application.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the second attribute release policy is used as a proxy by the second application to access the first set of filtered attributes.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein:

a plurality of first attribute release policies are stored in a centralized repository; and

individual first attribute release policies in the plurality of first attribute release policies are associated with one or more of a plurality of applications.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein:

a request is received from a second application for attribute information stored in the first datastore;

the attributes stored in the first datastore are filtered according to a second attribute release policy to generate a second set of filtered attributes; and

the second set of filtered attributes is provided to a second application.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein:

a request is received from a second application for attribute information stored in a second datastore;

the attributes stored in the second datastore are filtered according to a second attribute release policy to generate a second set of filtered data; and

the second set of filtered attributes is provided to a second application.

10. A system comprising:

a processor;

a data bus coupled to the processor; and

a computer-usable medium embodying computer program code, the computer-usable medium being coupled to the data bus, the computer program code controlling the distribution of data and comprising instructions executable by the processor and configured for;

receiving a request from a first application for attribute information;

filtering the attributes stored in a first datastore according to a first attribute release policy to generate a first set of filtered attributes; and

providing the first set of filtered attributes to the first application.

13. The system of claim 10, further comprising:

providing the first set of filtered attributes to a second datastore;

filtering the first set of filtered attributes according to a second attribute release policy to generate a second set of filtered attributes; and

providing the second set of filtered attributes to a second application.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the first attribute release policy is centralized and the second attribute release policy is distributed.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the first attribute release policy is used to update the second attribute release policy.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the second attribute release policy is associated with the second application.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the second attribute release policy is used as a proxy by the second application to access the first set of filtered attributes.

18. The system of claim 10, wherein:

a plurality of first attribute release policies are stored in a centralized repository; and

individual first attribute release policies in the plurality of first attribute release policies are associated with one or more of a plurality of applications.

19. A computer-usable medium embodying computer program code, the computer program code comprising computer executable instructions configured for:

receiving a request from a first application for attribute information;

filtering the attributes stored in a first datastore according to a first attribute release policy to generate a first set of filtered attributes; and

providing the first set of filtered attributes to the first application.

20. The computer usable medium of claim 19, wherein:

a request is received from a second application for attribute information stored in the first datastore;

the attributes stored in the first datastore are filtered according to a second attribute release policy to generate a second set of filtered attributes; and

the second set of filtered attributes is provided to a second application.

21. The computer usable medium of claim 20, wherein:

a request is received from a second application for attribute information stored in a second datastore;

the attributes stored in the second datastore are filtered according to a second attribute release policy to generate a second set of filtered data; and

the second set of filtered attributes is provided to a second application.

22. The computer usable medium of claim 19, further comprising:

providing the first set of filtered attributes to a second datastore;

filtering the first set of filtered attributes according to a second attribute release policy to generate a second set of filtered attributes; and

providing the second set of filtered attributes to a second application.

23. The computer usable medium of claim 22, wherein the first attribute release policy is centralized and the second attribute release policy is distributed.

24. The computer usable medium of claim 22, wherein the first attribute release policy is used to update the second attribute release policy.

25. The computer usable medium of claim 22, wherein the second attribute release policy is associated with the second application.

26. The computer usable medium of claim 25, wherein the second attribute release policy is used as a proxy by the second application to access the first set of filtered attributes.

27. The computer usable medium of claim 19, wherein:

a plurality of first attribute release policies are stored in a centralized repository; and

individual first attribute release policies in the plurality of first attribute release policies are associated with one or more of a plurality of applications.

28. The computer usable medium of claim 19, wherein the computer executable instructions are deployable to a client computer from a server at a remote location.

29. The computer usable medium of claim 19, wherein the computer executable instructions are provided by a service provider to a customer on an on-demand basis.