DATA PRIVACY FOR SMART SERVICES

• US 20130111596A1
• Filed: 10/31/2011
• Published: 05/02/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Rayes, Ammar, Dasgupta, Subrata, Garg, Gaurav, Whitteker, Mark
• Granted Patent: US 8,910,296 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/26
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0213 Standardised network management protocols, e.g. simple network management protocol [SNMP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/28 Restricting access to network management systems or functions, e.g. using authorisation function to access network configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/04 Processing captured monitoring data, e.g. for logfile generation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0414 during transmission, i.e. party's identity is protected against eavesdropping, e.g. by using temporary identifiers, but is known to the other party or parties involved in the communication

Abstract

Techniques are disclosed for hiding sensitive information from a provider of support services. In one embodiment, a first network device determines that network device information includes non-sensitive data and sensitive data. In response to the determining, the first network device generates mapping data that maps dummy information to the sensitive data. The first network device generates output data that comprises the non-sensitive data and the dummy data and sends the output data to a second network device. In other embodiments, the user may select the network parameters that are sensitive. The first network device may also receive first report data from the second network device that identifies a network problem and includes the dummy data and generate second report data by using the mapping data to replace the dummy information with the sensitive data.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining, at a first network device, that network device information includes non-sensitive data and sensitive data;

in response to the determining, generating mapping data that maps dummy data to the sensitive data;

generating output data that comprises the non-sensitive data and the dummy data;

sending the output data to a second network device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the network device information comprises data that identifies a network problem associated with a private network.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the non-sensitive network device information includes data that identifies a serial number for a network device;

wherein the sensitive device data comprises data that identifies a private internet protocol (IP) address of a network device on a private network.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving user input that selects one or more network parameters that are sensitive;

based on the one or more network parameters selected by the user, determining which of the network device information is the non-sensitive data and which of the network device information is the sensitive data.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving first report data from the second network device that identifies a network problem and includes the dummy data;

generating second report data by using the mapping data to replace the dummy information of the first report data with the sensitive data;

presenting the second report data to a user.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising collecting the network device information from a plurality of network devices on a private network.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the mapping data is maintained only by the first network device.

8. One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media comprising one or more sequences of instructions which when executed cause:

determining, at a first network device, that network device information includes non-sensitive data and sensitive data;

in response to determining, generating mapping data that maps dummy information to the sensitive data;

generating output data that comprises the non-sensitive data and the dummy data;

sending the output data to a second network device.

9. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 8, wherein the network device information comprises information that identifies a network problem associated with a private network.

10. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 8, wherein the non-sensitive network device information includes a serial number for a network device;

wherein the sensitive device information comprises a private internet protocol (IP) address of a device on a private network.

11. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 8, further comprising instructions which when executed cause:

receiving user input that selects one or more network parameters that are sensitive;

based on the one or more network parameters selected by the user, determining which of the network device information is the non-sensitive data and which of the network device information is the sensitive data.

12. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 8, further comprising instructions which when executed cause:

receiving first report data from the second network device that identifies a network problem and includes the dummy data;

generating second report data by using the mapping data to replace the dummy information of the first report data with the sensitive data;

presenting the second report data to a user.

13. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 8, further comprising instructions which when executed cause:

collecting the network device information from a plurality of network devices on a private network.

14. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 8, wherein the mapping data is maintained only by the first network device.

15. A method comprising:

receiving, at a first network device in a private network, input that identifies one or more sensitive network parameters that should not leave the private network;

collecting network data from one or more network devices that are in the private network;

based on the input, determining which of the collected network data is sensitive network data;

in response to the determining, generating mapping data that maps dummy data to the sensitive network data;

generating an output file that includes at least a portion of the collected network data;

wherein the dummy data serves as a placeholder for the sensitive network data in the output file;

sending the output file over a public network to a second network device for a network analysis of the one or more network devices in the private network;

receiving a report file from the second network device;

wherein the report file identifies network issues associated with the one or more network devices in the private network;

wherein the dummy data serves as a placeholder for the sensitive network data in the report file;

replacing, at the first network device, the dummy data with the sensitive network data.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the output file includes non-sensitive network data and the sensitive network data;

wherein the non-sensitive network data includes collected non-configurable device attributes of the one or more network devices in the private network;

wherein the sensitive network data includes user-configurable device attributes of the one or more network devices in the private network.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the sensitive network data includes actual device hostnames of the one or more network devices in the private network;

wherein generating the dummy data comprises;

mapping each actual device hostname of the one or more network devices to a false device hostname.

18. One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media comprising one or more sequences of instructions which when executed cause:

receiving, at a first network device in a private network, input that identifies one or more sensitive network parameters that should not leave the private network;

collecting network data from one or more network devices that are in the private network;

based on the input, determining which of the collected network data is sensitive network data;

in response to the determining, generating mapping data that maps dummy data to the sensitive network data;

generating an output file that includes at least a portion of the collected network data;

wherein the dummy data serves as a placeholder for the sensitive network data in the output file;

sending the output file over a public network to a second network device for a network analysis of the one or more network devices in the private network;

receiving a report file from the second network device;

wherein the report file identifies network issues associated with the one or more network devices in the private network;

wherein the dummy data serves as a placeholder for the sensitive network data in the report file;

replacing, at the first network device, the dummy data with the sensitive network data.

19. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 18, wherein the output file includes non-sensitive network data and the sensitive network data;

wherein the non-sensitive network data includes collected non-configurable device attributes of the one or more network devices in the private network;

wherein the sensitive network data includes user-configurable device attributes of the one or more network devices in the private network.

20. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 18, wherein the sensitive network data includes actual device hostnames of the one or more network devices in the private network;

wherein generating the dummy data comprises;

mapping each actual device hostname of the one or more network devices to a false device hostname.