Secure processing of secure information in a non-secure environment

• US 8,793,756 B2
• Filed: 12/20/2006
• Issued: 07/29/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/20/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DST Technologies, Inc. (SS&C Technologies Holdings Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: DST Technologies, Inc. (SS&C Technologies Holdings Incorporated)
• Inventors: Mock, James Robert, Shelby, Tracy Wayne, Sherry, Devin Todd, Gentry, Michael V., Clark, Peter E., Hudgins, Michael C., Metzger, Michael G.
• Primary Examiner(s): Khoshnoodi, Nadia
• Application Number:
  US11/643,418
• Publication Number:
  US 20080155540A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,778 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 726/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/60 Protecting data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063112 Skill-based matching of a person or a group to a task

Abstract

A secured process sourcing and work management system for processing secure information in a non-secure environment is disclosed. The system permits a user, referred to herein as a customer or requester, to submit a project, involving a human intelligence task (“HIT”), referred to as a task or task specification, to be performed with respect to secure, confidential or sensitive information, referred to herein as secure information, and have that project completed in a non-secure environment without compromising the security, confidentiality or sensitivity of the secure information. The system may be incorporated into the requestor'"'"'s workflow, receiving projects therefrom and providing the results thereto. Further, a system is disclosed for implementing a processing workflow for such tasks, the system permitting, based on projects submitted by requestors, the “posting” or distribution of jobs, and subsequent management thereof, to be performed by a workforce operating in or via a non-secure-environment, while protecting the underlying security, confidentiality or sensitivity of the overall project.

Claims

1. A method of completing a task in a non-secure environment with respect to a secure object, the method comprising:

receiving, by a processor, in a secure environment, the secure object with respect to which the task is to be performed;

dividing, by the processor, the secure object into at least two or more secure sub-objects each comprising data and one or more contexts associated therewith, the one or more contexts each characterizing the data as secure;

further dividing, by the processor, the secure sub-objects such that each data of the two or more secure sub-objects is disassociated from each of the associated one or more contexts such that none of the secure characterization of the data is distributed with the disassociated data, the task comprising one or more sub-tasks to be performed with respect to the disassociated data of each of the two or more secure sub-objects;

arranging, by the processor, for the performance of the one or more sub-tasks with one or more available participants of a workforce, the one or more available participants being in the non-secure environment and unaware of the secure characterization of the data; and

distributing, by the processor, to the one or more available participants in the non-secure environment, at least one of the disassociated data such that the respective sub-task may be performed with respect thereto, and wherein the ability to discern the secure characterization of the data in the non-secure environment is reduced.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving, by the processor in the secure environment, a specification of the task; and

dividing, by the processor, the task into the one or more sub-tasks to be performed with respect to the disassociated data of each of the two or more secure sub-objects.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the distributing further comprises distributing, by the processor, the respective sub-task along with the at least one of the disassociated data with respect to which the respective sub-task is to be performed.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving, by the processor, the results of the performance of each sub-task; and

compiling, by the processor, the results.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the secure object comprises computer incomprehensible information, the task comprises converting the computer incomprehensible information into computer comprehensible information.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the task comprises data entry, conversion, translation, verification, transcription, analysis, identification, description, indexing, categorization, classification, selection, separation, isolation, recognition, sorting, correction, relation, opining, assessment, judgment or combinations thereof.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one of the one or more contexts comprises an attribute of the associated data.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the disassociating further comprises separating, by the processor, the attribute from the data.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein the attribute comprises a characteristic of the data, a label associated with the data, a tag associated with the data, a type associated with the data, a source of the data, a destination of the data, the data of another secure sub-object or a combination thereof.

10. The method of claim 7 wherein the attribute comprises a number of alphanumeric digits in the data.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the disassociating further comprises dividing, by the processor, the data into at least two disassociated data, each of the at least two disassociated data comprising a sub-set of the number of alphanumeric digits such that the number of alphanumeric digits in the data cannot be discerned from each sub-set alone.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the secure object comprises a representation of a handwriting, a picture, an image, a facsimile, a document, an audio recording, a video recording, or combinations thereof.

13. A system for facilitating completion of a task in a non-secure environment with respect to a secure object, the system comprising:

at least one processor device configured to operate as;

a project receiver operative to receive, in a secure environment, the secure object with respect to which the task is to be performed;

an object separator coupled with the project receiver and operative to divide the secure object into at least two or more secure sub-objects each comprising data and one or more contexts associated therewith, the one or more contexts each characterizing the data as secure;

an object disassociator coupled with the object separator and operative to further separate the two or more secure sub-objects so as to disassociate each data of the two or more secure sub-objects from each of the associated one or more contexts such that none of the secure characterization of the data is distributed with the disassociated data, the task comprising one or more sub-tasks to be performed with respect to the disassociated data of each of the two or more secure sub-objects; and

a distributor coupled with the object disassociator and the task divider and operative to distribute to one or more participants of a workforce in the non-secure environment at least one of the disassociated data such that the respective sub-task may be performed with respect thereto, and wherein the ability to discern the secure characterization of the data in the non-secure environment is reduced.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein the project receiver is further operative to receive, in the secure environment, a specification of the task, the system further comprising a task divider coupled with the project receiver and operative to divide the task into the one or more sub-tasks to be performed with respect to the disassociated data of each of the two or more secure sub-objects.

15. The system of claim 13 wherein the distributor is further operative to distribute the respective sub-task along with the at least one of the disassociated data with respect to which the respective sub-task is to be performed.

16. The system of claim 13 further comprising:

a result receiver operative to receive the results of the performance of each sub-task; and

a result compiler operative to compile the results.

17. The system of claim 13 wherein the secure object comprises computer incomprehensible information, the task comprises converting the computer incomprehensible information into computer comprehensible information.

18. The system of claim 13 wherein the task comprises data entry, conversion, translation, verification, transcription, analysis, identification, description, indexing, categorization, classification, selection, separation, isolation, recognition, sorting, correction, relation, opining, assessment, judgment or combinations thereof.

19. The system of claim 13 wherein the at least one of the one or more contexts comprises an attribute of the associated data.

20. The system of claim 19 wherein the object disassociator is further operative to separate the attribute from the data.

21. The system of claim 19 wherein the attribute comprises a characteristic of the data, a label associated with the data, a tag associated with the data, a type associated with the data, a source of the data, a destination of the data, the data of another secure sub-object or a combination thereof.

22. The system of claim 19 wherein the attribute comprises a number of alphanumeric digits in the data.

23. The system of claim 22 wherein the object disassociator is further operative to divide the data into at least two disassociated data, each of the at least two disassociated data comprising a sub-set of the number of alphanumeric digits such that the number of alphanumeric digits in the data cannot be discerned from each sub-set alone.

24. The system of claim 13 wherein the secure object comprises a representation of a handwriting, a picture, an image, a facsimile, a document, an audio recording, a video recording, or combinations thereof.

25. The system of claim 13 wherein the distributor is further operative to distribute the at least one of the disassociated data and a specification of the respective sub-task to be performed with respect thereto to the one or more participants.

26. A system for facilitating completion of a task in a non-secure environment with respect to a secure object, the system comprising a processor device and a computer readable storage media coupled with the processor device, the system further comprising:

means stored in the computer readable media and executable by the processor device for receiving in a secure environment, the secure object with respect to which the task is to be performed;

means stored in the computer readable media and executable by the processor device for dividing the secure object into at least two or more secure sub-objects each comprising data and one or more contexts associated therewith, the one or more contexts each characterizing the data as secure;

means stored in the computer readable media and executable by the processor device for further dividing the two or more secure sub-objects such that each data of the two or more secure sub-objects is disassociated from each of the associated one or more contexts such that none of the secure characterization of the data is distributed with the disassociated data, the task comprising one or more sub-tasks to be performed with respect to the disassociated data of each of the two or more secure sub-objects; and

means stored in the computer readable media and executable by the processor device for distributing to one or more participants of a workforce in the non-secure environment at least one of the disassociated data such that the respective sub-task may be performed with respect thereto, and wherein the ability to discern the secure characterization of the data in the non-secure environment is reduced.

27. A non-transitory computer readable medium including instructions that when executed by a processor are operable to cause a system to facilitate completion of a task in a non-secure environment with respect to a secure object, the instructions operative to:

receive, in a secure environment, the secure object with respect to which the task is to be performed;

divide the secure object into at least two or more secure sub-objects each comprising data and one or more contexts associated therewith, the one or more contexts each characterizing the data as secure;

further divide the secure sub-objects so as to disassociate each data of the two or more secure sub-objects from each of the associated one or more contexts such that none of the secure characterization of the data is distributed with the disassociated data, the task comprising one or more sub-tasks to be performed with respect to the disassociated data of each of the two or more secure sub-objects; and

distribute to one or more participants of a workforce in the non-secure environment at least one of the disassociated data such that the respective sub-task may be performed with respect thereto, and wherein the ability to discern the secure characterization of the data in the non-secure environment is reduced.