System and method to anonymize data transmitted to a destination computing device

• US 9,288,191 B1
• Filed: 05/12/2014
• Issued: 03/15/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/13/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lookout Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Ciphercloud Incorporated
• Inventors: Tock, Theron, Kothari, Pravin
• Primary Examiner(s): Chai, Longbit
• Application Number:
  US14/275,828
• Time in Patent Office: 673 Days
• Field of Search: 726/26
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0407 wherein the identity of one or more communicating identities is hidden cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for anonymous credentials or for identity based cryptographic systems H04L9/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0421 Anonymous communication, i.e. the party's identifiers are hidden from the other party or parties, e.g. using an anonymizer

Abstract

A method and system for anonymizing data to be transmitted to a destination computing device is disclosed. Anonymization strategy for data anonymization is provided. Data to be transmitted is received from a user computer, the data including a plurality of characters, with at least one character case sensitive. A case information word indicative of the case of the characters is created. The characters in the data is converted to a known case. Selective anonymization of the converted data is performed, based on a selected anonymization strategy, using an anonymization module. The anonymized data with the case information word and data indicative of the selected anonymization strategy is transmitted to the destination computing device over a network.

Claims

1. A method for anonymizing data to be transmitted to a destination computing device, comprising:

receiving data to be transmitted from a user computer to the destination computing device over a network for storage, the data including a plurality of characters, with at least one character case sensitive;

creating a case information word indicative of the case of the character;

converting each of all the characters in the data to a known case;

anonymizing the converted data with the known case based on a selective anonymization strategy, using an anonymization module to derive an anonymized data which preserves the number of characters of the received data, wherein the selected anonymization strategy comprising, at least, encryption that permits exact word matching search and wild card search; and

transmitting anonymized data, the case information word and data indicative of the selected anonymization strategy for the converted data to the destination computing device over the network for storage, wherein one or more of the steps are executed in a computing device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein creating a case sensitive word further including:

determining whether preserving case for the data is selected; and

creating the case information word for the data based on the selection.

3. The method of claim 1, further including:

receiving a selectively retrieved anonymized data along with the case information word, in response to a request;

de-anonymizing the retrieved stored anonymized data, based on the data indicative of the selected anonymization strategy;

modifying the case of the de-anonymized data based on the case information word; and

returning the modified de-anonymized data, in response to the request.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the anonymized data is configured to preserve the order of the received data.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the anonymized data is configured to be searchable using anonymized keyword.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the anonymized data is configured to preserve the number of characters of the received data.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein anonymization strategy includes at least one of tokenization and encryption.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein anonymization based on tokenization includes at least one of random tokenization, sortable token anonymization and case-insensitive searchable anonymization.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein anonymization based on encryption includes at least one of encryption that permits exact word matching search, encryption that permits search and encryption that permits partial string and wild card searches.

10. An anonymization system to anonymize data transmitted to a destination computing device, comprising:

an anonymization strategy module to store anonymization strategy for data anonymization;

a logic to receive data to be transmitted from a user computer to the destination computing device over a network for storage; and

an anonymization module to selectively anonymize data based on a selected anonymization strategy to generate an anonymized data, wherein,

the received data includes a plurality of characters, with at least one character case sensitive;

a case information word for the data is created based on the case information;

each of all the characters in the received data is converted to a known case; and

the converted data with the known case is anonymized based on a selected anonymization strategy to generate the anonymized data, wherein the selected anonymization strategy comprising, at least, encryption that permits exact word matching search and wild card search; and

the anonymized data, the case information word and data indicative of the selected anonymization strategy for the converted data is transmitted to the destination computing device over the network for storage.

11. The system of claim 10, further including:

retrieve the anonymization strategy for the data from the anonymization strategy module to determine whether preserving case information for the data is selected; and

create the case information word for the data based on the selection.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the system further including:

a de-anonymization module configured to

receive a selectively retrieved anonymized data along with the case information word, in response to a request;

de-anonymize the retrieved stored anonymized data, based on the data indicative of the selected anonymization strategy;

modify the case of the de-anonymized data based on the case information word; and

return the modified de-anonymized data, in response to the request.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the anonymized data is configured to preserve the order of the received data.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the anonymized data is configured to be searchable using anonymized keyword.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the anonymized data is configured to preserve the number of characters of the received data.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein anonymization strategy includes at least one of tokenization and encryption.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein anonymization based on tokenization includes at least one of random tokenization, sortable token anonymization and case-insensitive searchable anonymization.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein anonymization based on encryption includes at least one of encryption that permits exact word matching search, encryption that permits search and encryption that permits partial string and wild card searches.