Database access control

• US 9,087,209 B2
• Filed: 09/25/2013
• Issued: 07/21/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/26/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Protegrity USA, Inc. (Xcelera Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Protegrity USA, Inc. (Xcelera Inc.)
• Inventors: Mattsson, Ulf, Meijer, Hans, Boberg, Jan
• Primary Examiner(s): Cervetti, David Garca
• Application Number:
  US14/037,302
• Publication Number:
  US 20140090085A1
• Time in Patent Office: 664 Days
• Field of Search: 726/28, 707/781
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/176 Support for shared access to files; File sharing support
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6218 to a system of files or objects, e.g. local or distributed file system or database
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6227 where protection concerns the structure of data, e.g. records, types, queries

Abstract

A method for database access control includes receiving an access request from a requesting user, the access request identifying one or more data entries stored in a base table storing a plurality a data entries each associated with a data category. The identified one or more data entries from the base table are retrieved and a security table including one or more data categories to which the requesting user is authorized to access is generated based on an identity of the requesting user. The data entries associated with a data category included in the security table are outputted as a result table.

Claims

1. A method for database access control, comprising:

receiving an access request from a requesting user, the access request comprising user credentials identifying the requesting user and identifying requested data;

querying an authorization table with the user credentials, wherein the authorization table stores one or more data categories, each data category associated with one or more users that have access to data associated with the data category;

generating, based on the query of the authorization table, a security table that identifies a subset of the one or more data categories to which the requesting user has access, the security table different from the authorization table;

querying a base table that comprises a plurality of data entries with the identity of the requested data, each data entry mapped to at least one data category of the one or more data categories;

generating, based on the query of the base table, a candidate data entry table that includes data entries identified by the access request and the data categories to which each included data entry is mapped within the base table;

performing a join operation between the security table and the candidate data entry table to generate a result set, each result in the result set comprising a data entry within the candidate data entry table mapped to at least one data category included within the security table; and

providing the generated result set to the requesting user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one association between a data category and a user stored in the authorization table is determined based on a current time.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein an association between a particular data category and a corresponding user includes:

a data access level indicating a magnitude of data access to specific data entries provided to the corresponding user based on the particular data category.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the data access level specifies a set of properties, of the specific data entries, to which the corresponding user has access based on the particular data category.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the data access level specifies a nature of access rights, to the specific data entries, to which the corresponding user has access based on the particular data category.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the data access level specifies a nature of encryption applied to the specific data entries, to which the corresponding user has access based on the particular data category.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein the data access level corresponding to the particular data category is determined based on a current time.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the base table comprises an encrypted representation of the data entries and the data categories; and

querying the base table comprises decrypting one or more of the encrypted data entries to access the plurality of data entries and corresponding data categories.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more data categories stored in the authorization table correspond to business entities, organizational groups, class years, social circles, data types, data classes, security levels, or any combination thereof.

10. A method for database access control, comprising:

receiving an access request from a requesting user, the access request identifying one or more data entries stored in a base table, the base table comprising a plurality a data entries each associated with a data category;

generating a candidate data entry table by querying the base table with the identity of the identified data entries, the candidate data entry table including the identified data entries and, for each identified data entry, the data category to which the identified data entry is mapped within the base table;

generating a security table by querying, with an identity of the request user, an authorization table mapping each of a plurality of data categories to one or more users authorized to access the data category, the security table including one or more data categories to which the requesting user is authorized;

performing a join operation between the security table and the candidate data entry table to generate a result table, each result in the result table comprising a data entry mapped to a data category within the security table; and

outputting the result table.

11. A database access control system, comprising:

a non-transitory computer-readable memory storing executable computer instructions, the instructions comprising instructions for;

receiving an access request from a requesting user, the access request comprising user credentials identifying the requesting user and identifying requested data;

querying an authorization table with the user credentials, wherein the authorization table stores one or more data categories, each data category associated with one or more users that have access to data associated with the data category;

generating, based on the query of the authorization table, a security table that identifies a subset of the one or more data categories to which the requesting user has access, the security table different from the authorization table;

querying a base table that comprises a plurality of data entries with the identity of the requested data, each data entry mapped to at least one data category of the one or more data categories;

generating, based on the query of the base table, a candidate data entry table that includes data entries identified by the access request and the data categories to which each included data entry is mapped within the base table;

performing a join operation between the security table and the candidate data entry table to generate a result set, each result in the result set comprising a data entry within the candidate data entry table mapped to at least one data category included within the security table; and

providing the generated result set to the requesting user; and

a processor configured to execute the computer instructions.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein at least one association between a data category and a user stored in the authorization table is determined based on a current time.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein an association between a particular data category and a corresponding user includes:

a data access level indicating a magnitude of data access to specific data entries provided to the corresponding user based on the particular data category.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the data access level specifies a set of properties, of the specific data entries, to which the corresponding user has access based on the particular data category.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the data access level specifies a nature of access rights, to the specific data entries, to which the corresponding user has access based on the particular data category.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the data access level specifies a nature of encryption applied to the specific data entries, to which the corresponding user has access based on the particular data category.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the data access level corresponding to the particular data category is determined based on a current time.