Searchable Encrypted Data

• US 20140052999A1
• Filed: 08/13/2013
• Published: 02/20/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/15/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Visa International Service Association (Visa, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Visa International Service Association (Visa, Inc.)
• Inventors: Aissi, Selim, Nagasundaram, Sekhar
• Granted Patent: US 9,256,764 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/189
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/13 File access structures, e.g. distributed indices arrangements of input from, or output to, record carriers G06F3/06
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/137 Hash-based content-based indexing of textual data G06F16/31
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/14 Details of searching files based on file metadata
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/148 File search processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/152 using file content signatures, e.g. hash values
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/22 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2228 Indexing structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/606 by securing the transmission between two devices or processes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6245 Protecting personal data, e.g. for financial or medical purposes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/64 Protecting data integrity, e.g. using checksums, certificates or signatures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2207/00 Indexing scheme relating to methods or arrangements for processing data by operating upon the order or content of the data handled
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2207/025 String search, i.e. pattern matching, e.g. find identical word or best match in a string
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/08 Key distribution or management, e.g. generation, sharing or updating, of cryptographic keys or passwords network architectures or network communication protocols for supporting key management in a packet data network H04L63/06

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention broadly described, introduce systems and methods for enabling the searching of encrypted data. One embodiment of the invention discloses a method for generating a searchable encrypted database. The method comprises receiving a plurality of sensitive data records comprising personal information of different users, identifying one or more searchable fields for the sensitive data records, wherein each searchable field is associated with a subset of the personal information for a user, generating a searchable field index for each of the one or more searchable fields, and encrypting the sensitive data records using a database encryption key.

Claims

1. A data encryption computer, comprising:

a processor; and

a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, comprising code executable by the processor for implementing a method comprising;

receiving a plurality of sensitive data records comprising personal information of different users;

identifying one or more searchable fields for the sensitive data records, wherein each searchable field is associated with a subset of the personal information for a user;

generating a searchable field index for each of the one or more searchable fields;

encrypting the sensitive data records using a database encryption key.

2. The data encryption computer of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

sending, by the processor, the encrypted data records and the generated indices to a searchable encrypted database.

3. The data encryption computer of claim 1, wherein the format of each searchable field index depends on the sensitivity of the searchable field.

4. The data encryption computer of claim 3, wherein generating the one or more indices comprises:

when a searchable field is highly sensitive, determining the format of the searchable field to be a hash-based message authentication code (HMAC); and

generating an HMAC for the searchable field using a searchable field key.

5. The data encryption computer of claim 4, wherein generating the one or more indices further comprises:

sending the searchable field key to one or more clients authorized to search using the searchable field.

6. The data encryption computer of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

transmitting the database encryption key to one or more clients authorized to decrypt the encrypted data records.

7. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, by a processor, personal information of a user;

generating, by the processor, one or more index values, each associated with a searchable field index, using the personal information;

sending, by the processor, the one or more index values;

receiving, by the processor, one or more encrypted data records matching the index values; and

decrypting, by the processor, the encrypted data records using a database decryption key.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving the database decryption key from a data encryption computer.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein the format of each searchable field index is determined using a sensitivity of a corresponding searchable field.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein at least one of the index values is a hash-based message authentication code.

11. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, by a processor, one or more index values for searchable field indices, wherein the index values are generated using personal information of a user;

retrieving, by the processor, one or more encrypted data records using the index values; and

sending, by the processor, the one or more encrypted data records.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein the format of each searchable field index is determined using a sensitivity of a searchable field associated with the searchable field index.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein the encrypted data records are encrypted using a data encryption key, wherein the encrypted data records are decryptable using a database decryption key associated with the database encryption key.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein at least one of the index values is a hash-based message authentication code.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein the index values are received from a service center computer, wherein the index values are generated using identification information provided by a user.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein the method further comprises:

when multiple encrypted data records match the index values, prompting the service center computer to send additional identification information.

17. A system comprising a server computer configured to perform the method of claim 11, and a client computer in communication with the server computer, the client computer configured to:

send the one or more index values;

receive the one or more encrypted data records; and

decrypt the one or more encrypted data records.