ESTABLISHING AND ENFORCING SELECTIVE OBJECT DELETION OPERATIONS ON CLOUD-BASED SHARED CONTENT

• US 20170371890A1
• Filed: 04/19/2017
• Published: 12/28/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/24/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Box Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Box Incorporated
• Inventors: Seker, Emrah, Karim, Alam, Fain, Jessica Lynn, Ebertz, Joy Keiko, Thang, Raymond Louis, La, Steven Matthew, Sun, Shengzhi, Churchill, Ryan, Pearl, Anne Elizabeth Hiatt
• Granted Patent: US 10,585,854 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/122 using management policies backup systems G06F11/1446; file migration policies for HSM systems G06F16/185
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/162 Delete operations erasing in storage systems G06F3/0652

Abstract

Systems for enforcing multiple object deletion policies over shared content objects that are accessible in a cloud-based service platform. A method embodiment commences upon receiving two or more sets of file deletion parameters that describe respective two or more object deletion policies covering a portion of the shared content objects. Records that form associations between the file deletion parameters and at least some of the shared content objects are made available to event listeners in the system. Upon detecting events associated with access to the shared content by the users, the event listeners analyze the events to identify objects of the shared content that are associated with the multiple object deletion policies. If an object is covered by conflicting deletion policy actions, then actions of the deletion policy having a higher priority are applied. Some actions prevent or delay modification of the objects. Lower priority data retention deletions are suppressed.

Claims

1. A method for reconciling multiple object deletion policies over shared content objects, the method comprising:

receiving a first set of one or more first file deletion parameters that describe a first object deletion policy that covers at least a portion of the shared content objects;

receiving a second set of one or more second file deletion parameters that describe a second object deletion policy that covers the at least a portion of the shared content objects;

creating associations between at least some of the file deletion parameters and the at least a portion of the shared content objects;

receiving one or more access event records that pertain to accessing the shared content objects;

identifying at least two of the multiple object deletion policies, wherein a first one of the at least two of the multiple object deletion policies has a first priority and wherein a second one of the at least two of the multiple object deletion policies has a second priority;

storing a set of policy actions in columns of a data structure comprising at least two action columns that correspond to at least one higher-ordered action column and at least one lower-ordered action column, wherein a column priority ordering is based at least in part on determining which of the multiple object deletion policies has a higher priority;

determining that there is a conflict between a first policy action in a first one of the at least two action columns and a second policy action in a second one of the at least two action columns;

resolving the conflict by choosing the first policy action when the first policy action corresponds the higher-ordered action column; and

initiating the first policy action rather than the second policy action.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first one of the at least two of the multiple object deletion policies is a legal hold policy and wherein the second one of the at least two of the multiple object deletion policies is a data retention policy.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the legal hold policy comprises a “

deny delete”

action.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the data retention policy comprises an “

OK to delete”

action.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining at least one of the actions to take based on at least one of, one or more properties of the access event records, or one of the access event records.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein at least one of the actions to take is to disallow at least one of, a delete operation, or a move operation.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein at least one of the actions to take is based at least in part on one of, a user, a folder, a file version, or a file type.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving one or more access event records comprises listening to an event stream.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the initiating comprises initiating an approval action.

10. A method for enforcing hold order policies over shared content objects that are accessible by one or more users, the method comprising:

receiving one or more hold order policy parameters describing a hold order policy that covers at least a portion of the shared content objects;

creating one or more assignment records that form associations between at least some of the hold order policy parameters and at least some of the shared content objects;

receiving one or more access event records associated with access to the shared content by the users;

analyzing the one or more access event records to identify one or more objects of the shared content associated with the hold order policy, the one or more objects being identified based at least in part on at least one of the assignment records; and

initiating performance of at least one action over the one or more objects of the shared content.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising determining a specific action to take based on at least one of, one or more properties of the access event records, or one of the hold order policy parameters.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the specific action to take is to disallow at least one of, a delete operation, or a move operation.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the specific action to take is to disallow the delete operation even when one or more data retention policies have expired.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising creating one or more sets comprising at least one of the assignment records.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising removing at least one set responsive to removing one or more of the assignment records.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein the hold order policy parameters comprise at least one of, a policy name, a policy identifier, a policy start time, a policy end time, one or more subject matter keywords, an enterprise identifier, or a policy status.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein at least one of the assignment records is based at least in part on one of, a user, a folder, a file version, or a file type.

18. The method of claim 10, further comprising presenting a user interface to at least one of the users to specify at least one of the hold order policy parameters.

19. A system for reconciling multiple object deletion policies over shared content objects, the system comprising:

a storage medium having stored thereon a sequence of instructions; and

one or more processors that execute the instructions to cause the one or more processors to perform a set of acts, the acts comprising,

receiving a first set of one or more first file deletion parameters that describe a first object deletion policy that covers at least a portion of the shared content objects;

receiving a second set of one or more second file deletion parameters that describe a second object deletion policy that covers the at least a portion of the shared content objects;

creating associations between at least some of the file deletion parameters and the at least a portion of the shared content objects;

receiving one or more access event records that pertain to accessing the shared content objects;

identifying at least two of the multiple object deletion policies, wherein a first one of the at least two of the multiple object deletion policies has a first priority and wherein a second one of the at least two of the multiple object deletion policies has a second priority;

storing a set of policy actions in columns of a data structure comprising at least two action columns that correspond to at least one higher-ordered action column and at least one lower-ordered action column, wherein a column priority ordering is based at least in part on determining which of the multiple object deletion policies has a higher priority;

determining that there is a conflict between a first policy action in a first one of the at least two action columns and a second policy action in a second one of the at least two action columns;

resolving the conflict by choosing the first policy action when the first policy action corresponds the higher-ordered action column; and

initiating the first policy action rather than the second policy action.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the first one of the at least two of the multiple object deletion policies is a legal hold policy and wherein the second one of the at least two of the multiple object deletion policies is a data retention policy.