Generating and utilizing a data fingerprint to enable analysis of previously available data

• US 8,930,325 B2
• Filed: 02/15/2012
• Issued: 01/06/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 02/15/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Cochrane, Kristen E., Milman, Ivan M., Oberhofer, Martin, Padilla, Donald A.
• Primary Examiner(s): LE, HUNG D
• Application Number:
  US13/396,821
• Publication Number:
  US 20130212072A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,056 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 707/691
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 7/02 of the type wherein the student is expected to construct an answer to the question which is presented or wherein the machine gives an answer to the question presented by a student

Abstract

According to one embodiment of the present invention, a system analyzes data in response to detecting occurrence of an event, and includes a computer system including at least one processor. The system maps fields between the data and a fingerprint definition identifying relevant fields of the data to produce a fingerprint for the data. The data is deleted after occurrence of the event. The produced fingerprint is stored in a data repository, and retrieved in response to detection of the event occurrence after the data has been deleted. The system analyzes the retrieved fingerprint to evaluate an impact of the event on corresponding deleted data. Embodiments of the present invention further include a method and computer program product for analyzing data in response to detecting occurrence of an event in substantially the same manner described above.

Claims

1. A system for analyzing data in response to detecting occurrence of an event comprising:

a computer system including at least one processor configured to;

map fields between the data and a fingerprint definition identifying relevant fields of the data to produce a fingerprint for the data including information pertaining to the data, wherein the data is deleted after occurrence of the event and the fingerprint information lacks actual values for elements within the corresponding deleted data;

store the produced fingerprint in a data repository;

retrieve the fingerprint from the data repository in response to detection of the event occurrence after the data has been deleted; and

analyze the information within the retrieved fingerprint to identify the elements of the corresponding deleted data and to evaluate an impact of the event on the corresponding deleted data.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the data includes sensitive data subject to one or more regulations pertaining to access of the data.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the fingerprint includes locality information, and analyzing the information includes:

determining one or more regulations applicable to the corresponding deleted data based on the locality information in the retrieved fingerprint.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the data is recoverable after deletion based on the fingerprint information, and the at least one processor is further configured to:

retrieve the data based on information from the retrieved fingerprint for further analysis.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

analyze the retrieved data to facilitate generation and transmission of a notification of the occurrence of the event to a recipient indicated by the retrieved data.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein the data is encrypted and stored by an escrow system, and retrieving the data includes:

providing information from the retrieved fingerprint to the escrow system to initiate decryption of the encrypted data.

7. The system of claim 4, wherein the fingerprint information includes a transaction identifier, and retrieving the data includes:

providing the transaction identifier from the retrieved fingerprint to a source supplying the data in order to retrieve the data.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the fingerprint information indicates the presence of values for elements within the corresponding deleted data in order to identify the elements of the corresponding deleted data impacted by occurrence of the event.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the occurrence of the event potentially compromises the data.

10. A computer program product for analyzing data in response to detecting occurrence of an event comprising:

a memory device having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code comprising computer readable program code configured to;

map fields between the data and a fingerprint definition identifying relevant fields of the data to produce a fingerprint for the data including information pertaining to the data, wherein the data is deleted after occurrence of the event and the fingerprint information lacks actual values for elements within the corresponding deleted data;

store the produced fingerprint in a data repository;

retrieve the fingerprint from the data repository in response to detection of the event occurrence after the data has been deleted; and

analyze the information within the retrieved fingerprint to identify the elements of the corresponding deleted data and to evaluate an impact of the event on the corresponding deleted data.

11. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the data includes sensitive data subject to one or more regulations pertaining to access of the data.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the fingerprint includes locality information, and analyzing the information includes:

determining one or more regulations applicable to the corresponding deleted data based on the locality information in the retrieved fingerprint.

13. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the data is recoverable after deletion based on the fingerprint information, and the computer readable program code further comprises computer readable program code configured to:

retrieve the data based on information from the retrieved fingerprint for further analysis.

14. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the computer readable program code further comprises computer readable program code configured to:

analyze the retrieved data to facilitate generation and transmission of a notification of the occurrence of the event to a recipient indicated by the retrieved data.

15. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the data is encrypted and stored by an escrow system, and retrieving the data includes:

providing information from the retrieved fingerprint to the escrow system to initiate decryption of the encrypted data.

16. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the fingerprint information includes a transaction identifier, and retrieving the data includes:

providing the transaction identifier from the retrieved fingerprint to a source supplying the data in order to retrieve the data.

17. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the fingerprint information indicates the presence of values for elements within the corresponding deleted data in order to identify the elements of the corresponding deleted data impacted by occurrence of the event.

18. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the occurrence of the event potentially compromises the data.