ANONYMIZATION AS A SERVICE

• US 20140053244A1
• Filed: 08/20/2012
• Published: 02/20/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/20/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Raman, Madhusudan, Tippett, Peter Steven
• Granted Patent: US 9,076,016 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/4
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6263 during internet communication, e.g. revealing personal data from cookies

Abstract

One or more network devices receive user criteria for providing anonymization of data from a user device and generate a default workflow for achieving the user criteria. The network devices provide, to the user device, the default workflow and receive user input to the default workflow. The network devices generate and send, based on the user input, final workflow instructions for transmitting data from the user device. The network devices also receive anonymized data transmitted from the user device based on the final workflow instructions. The network devices can provide trend observations of the anonymized data for use by third parties without granting access to the anonymized data.

Claims

1. A method performed by one or more network devices, comprising:

receiving, by one of the network devices, user criteria for providing anonymization of data from a user device;

generating, by one of the network devices and based on the user criteria, a default workflow for achieving the user criteria;

providing, by one of the network devices and to the user device, the default workflow;

receiving, by one of the network devices, user input to the default workflow;

generating, based on the user input, final workflow instructions for transmitting data from the user device;

sending, by one of the network devices and to the user device, the final workflow instructions; and

receiving, by one of the network devices, data transmitted from the user device based on the final workflow instructions.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the default workflow is configured to be presented on the user device via an interactive user interface.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the user input includes one of accepting the default workflow or modifying the default work flow.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the final workflow includes multiple anonymizing proxy devices to obfuscate origination from the user device.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, from the user device, a request to conduct an anonymous data transaction, wherein the request includes a user device identifier;

authorizing the request; and

storing, in a memory, a record of the request.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing, in a de-scoped repository of received data, the received data transmitted from the user device.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

identifying trends based on data in the de-scoped repository; and

providing, to a third-party device, access to the identified trends, wherein the access to the identified trends does not include access to the data in the de-scoped repository.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the abstract trend includes one of a Predictive Model Markup Language (PMML) model or situational real-time scoring.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the user input into the default workflow is provided in an encrypted format, and wherein the method further comprises:

decrypting the received user input.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the final workflow instructions are configured to be accessed via an application program interface (API) residing on the user device.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining one of a reconstruction risk score or a relative level of anonymity for the data transmitted from the user device, and p1 sending, to the user device, the one of the reconstruction risk score or the relative level of anonymity.

12. A system, comprising:

one or more first network devices configured to;

receive user criteria for providing anonymization of data from a user device, wherein the user criteria includes an encryption level and a reconstruction risk level selected by a user,

generate, based on the user criteria, a default workflow for achieving the user criteria,

provide, to the user device, the default workflow,

receive, from the user device, user input to the default workflow,

generate, based on the user input, final workflow instructions for transmitting data from the user device, and

send, to the user device, the final workflow instructions.

13. The system of claim 12, further comprising:

one or more second network devices configured to;

receive encrypted data transmitted from the user device based on the final workflow instructions, and

decrypt the encrypted data.

14. The system of claim 13, further comprising:

one or more third network devices configured to;

receive, from the user device, a request to conduct an anonymized data transaction, wherein the request includes a user device identifier,

verify eligibility of the user device based on the user device identifier, and

provide instructions for a session between the user device and the one or more second network devices to receive the encrypted data.

15. The system of claim 13, further comprising:

one or more fourth network devices configured to;

store the decrypted data in a de-scoped repository combined with other data, and

collate the combined data in the de-scoped repository as anonymized trend observations.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the one or more fourth network devices are further configured to:

provide, to a third-party device, access to the trend observations, wherein the access to the trend observations does not include access to the decrypted data in the de-scoped repository.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the one or more second network devices are further configured to:

determine one of a reconstruction risk score or a relative level of anonymity for the received encrypted data, and

send, to the user device, the one of the reconstruction risk score or the relative level of anonymity.

18. A user device, comprising:

a network interface to communicate with one or more remote systems;

one or more memories to store instructions; and

one or more processors configured to execute instructions in the one or more memories to;

present a first user interface to receive eligibility information for a user device to conduct anonymized transactions with a service provider network,

receive, via the first user interface, the eligibility information,

transmit the eligibility information to a network device associated with the service provider network,

receive, from the network device, a default workflow configuration to conduct anonymized transactions,

present a second user interface including the default workflow configuration,

receive, via the second user interface, user input for the default workflow configuration to create an approved workflow configuration for anonymized transactions,

transmit the approved workflow configuration to the network device, and

receive, from the network device, an instruction set to implement the approved workflow configuration.

19. The user device of claim 18, wherein the eligibility information includes one or more of:

a unique identifier for the user device,

an encryption level for the anonymized transactions, or

a reconstruction risk level for the anonymized transactions.

20. The user device of claim 18, wherein the one or more processors configured to execute instructions in the one or more memories to:

encrypt data to be transferred using an anonymized transaction, and

transmit the encrypted data based on the instruction set.