Methods, systems, and computer program products for discreetly monitoring a communications network for sensitive information
First Claim
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1. A method for monitoring a computer network for information, comprising:
- obtaining sensitive information about a subscriber;
repeatedly providing repeated search requests to a search engine to search the network for the sensitive information about the subscriber;
intermittently providing intermittent search requests to the search engine to search the network for obscuring information in-between the repeated search requests to disguise the sensitive information, the obscuring information comprising information different from the sensitive information about the subscriber that is a subject of the repeated search requests;
identifying search results containing the sensitive information from results of the repeated and intermittent search requests; and
reporting the search results that were indentified to the subscriber.
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Abstract
A method for monitoring a network for information includes repeatedly searching the network for sensitive information about a subscriber. The network is intermittently searched for obscuring information during the repeated searching to thereby disguise the sensitive information that is the target of the repeated searching. Related systems and computer program products are also discussed.
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Citations
18 Claims
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1. A method for monitoring a computer network for information, comprising:
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obtaining sensitive information about a subscriber; repeatedly providing repeated search requests to a search engine to search the network for the sensitive information about the subscriber; intermittently providing intermittent search requests to the search engine to search the network for obscuring information in-between the repeated search requests to disguise the sensitive information, the obscuring information comprising information different from the sensitive information about the subscriber that is a subject of the repeated search requests; identifying search results containing the sensitive information from results of the repeated and intermittent search requests; and reporting the search results that were indentified to the subscriber. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A system for monitoring a computer network for information, comprising:
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a database stored on a tangible computer readable storage medium populated with sensitive information about a subscriber obtained from the subscriber; and a search engine stored on a tangible computer readable storage medium configured to perform repeated searches of the network for the sensitive information about the subscriber and further configured to perform intermittent searches of the network for randomly-generated obscuring information during the repeated searches to disguise the sensitive information, the obscuring information comprising information different from the sensitive information about the subscriber that is a subject of the repeated searches, wherein the search engine is further configured to identify search results containing the sensitive information from results of the repeated and intermittent searches based on the sensitive information in the database and is configured to report the search results that were identified to the subscriber. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13)
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14. An article of manufacture for monitoring a computer network for information, comprising a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therein, the computer readable program code comprising:
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computer readable program code configured to obtain sensitive information about a subscriber; computer readable program code configured to repeatedly provide repeated search requests to a search engine to search the network for sensitive information about the subscriber; computer readable program code configured to intermittently provide intermittent search requests to the search engine to search the network for obscuring information between the repeated search requests to disguise the sensitive information, the obscuring information comprising information different from the sensitive information about the subscriber that is a subject of the repeated search requests; computer readable program code configured to identify search results containing the sensitive information from results of the repeated and intermittent search requests based on the obtained sensitive information; and computer readable program code configured to report the search results that were identified to the subscriber. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18)
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Specification