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

• US 9,413,526 B1
• Filed: 03/15/2013
• Issued: 08/09/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/08/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lookout Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Ciphercloud Incorporated
• Inventors: Gorantla, Malakondayya, Kothari, Pravin, Dash, Debabrata
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, Chau
• Assistant Examiner(s): Chaudhry, Muhammad
• Application Number:
  US13/844,353
• Time in Patent Office: 1,243 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6254 by anonymising data, e.g. decorrelating personal data from the owner's identification
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/42 Anonymization, e.g. involving pseudonyms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2463/062 applying encryption of the keys
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0435 wherein the sending and receiving network entities apply symmetric encryption, i.e. same key used for encryption and decryption cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for symmetric key encryption H04L9/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/08 Key distribution or management, e.g. generation, sharing or updating, of cryptographic keys or passwords network architectures or network communication protocols for supporting key management in a packet data network H04L63/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0822 using key encryption key
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0863 involving passwords or one-time passwords network architectures or network communication protocols for using one-time keys in a packet data network H04L63/067

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. Selective anonymization of the data is performed, based on the anonymization strategy, using an anonymization module. The data is anonymized using the anonymization module, to derive an anonymized data, using a data encryption key. The anonymized data is transmitted to the destination computer over a network. In some embodiments, the data encryption key is encrypted and decrypted prior to anonymization.

Claims

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

providing a data encryption key;

encrypting the data encryption key with a key encryption key to derive an encrypted data encryption key;

encrypting the key encryption key using a KEK key to generate an encrypted key encryption key;

hashing the KEK key with a hash function to generate a hash of the KEK key;

storing the hash of the KEK key and encrypted key encryption key in a data store;

receiving data to be stored in a destination computing device, from a user computer, the data including a plurality of characters;

receiving a custodian password;

generating a hash of the custodian password using the hash function;

comparing the generated hash of the custodian password with the stored hash of the KEK key and when there is a match between the generated hash of the custodian password with the stored hash of the KEK key, decrypting the encrypted key encryption key using the custodian password to derive the key encryption key;

decrypting the encrypted data encryption key using the derived key encryption key to derive the data encryption key;

anonymizing the data to be stored using an anonymization module executed on a computing device to derive an anonymized data, based on a stored anonymization strategy, using the derived data encryption key; and

transmitting anonymized data to the destination computing device over a network, for storage in the destination computing device.

2. The method of claim 1, further including providing a plurality of KEK keys;

generating a plurality of hash of the plurality of KEK keys;

storing a plurality of hash of the plurality of KEK keys;

receiving a plurality of custodian passwords;

generating corresponding plurality of hash of the plurality of custodian password; and

comparing the corresponding plurality of hash of the plurality of custodian

password with stored plurality of hash of the plurality of KEK keys for a match; and

using one of matched plurality of the custodian password to decrypt the encrypted key encryption key to derive the key encryption key.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein hash of at least two custodian password have to match with stored plurality of hash of the plurality of KEK keys for a match.

4. The method of claim 1, further including dividing the KEK key into a plurality of sub-KEK keys;

and

upon validation of each of the plurality of sub-KEK keys, reassembling the plurality of sub-KEK keys to derive the KEK key.

5. The method of claim 1, further including:

dividing the data encryption key into a plurality of sub-data encryption key;

providing a corresponding sub-key encryption key to encrypt each of the sub-data encryption key;

encrypting each of the sub-key encryption key with a corresponding sub-KEK key;

upon validation of each of the sub-KEK key, decrypting the sub-key encryption key using the sub-KEK key;

decrypting the sub-data encryption key using the corresponding decrypted sub-key encryption key to derive decrypted sub-data encryption key; and

reassembling the decrypted sub-data encryption key to derive the data encryption key.

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

an anonymization strategy module executed on a computing device to store anonymization strategy for data anonymization in a data store;

a logic to receive data to be stored in the destination from a user computer; and

an anonymization module executed on the computing device to selectively anonymize data to be stored based on the anonymization strategy to generate an anonymized data using a data encryption key,

wherein, the data encryption key is encrypted with a key encryption key to derive an encrypted data encryption key;

the key encryption key is encrypted using a KEK key to generate an encrypted key encryption key;

the KEK key is hashed with a hash function to generate a hash of the KEK key;

the hash of the KEK key and encrypted key encryption key is stored in a data store;

the encrypted data encryption key is decrypted to derive the data encryption key prior to anonymization; and

the anonymized data is transmitted to the destination computing device over a network for storage in the destination computing device,

wherein the system is further configured to receive a custodian password;

generate a hash of the custodian password using the hash function;

compare the generated hash of the custodian password with the stored hash of the KEK key, and when there is a match between the generated hash of the custodian password with the stored hash of the KEK key, the custodian password is used to decrypt the encrypted key encryption key to derive the key encryption key; and

the encrypted data encryption key is decrypted using the derived key encryption key to derive the data encryption key.

7. The system of claim 6, further including:

provide a plurality of KEK keys;

generate a plurality of hash of the plurality of KEK keys;

store the plurality of hash of the plurality of KEK keys in the data store;

receive a plurality of custodian passwords;

generate corresponding plurality of hash of the plurality of custodian password;

compare the corresponding plurality of hash of the plurality of custodian password with stored plurality of hash of the KEK keys for a match; and

one of the matched plurality of the custodian password is used to decrypt the encrypted key encryption key to derive the key encryption key.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein hash of at least two custodian password have to match with stored plurality of hash of the plurality of KEK keys for a match.

9. The system of claim 6, wherein, the KEK key is divided into a plurality of sub-KEK keys;

and

upon validation of each of the plurality of sub-KEK keys, the plurality of sub-KEK keys are reassembled to derive the KEK key.

10. The system of claim 6, wherein,

the data encryption key is divided into a plurality of sub-data encryption key;

each of the sub-data encryption key is encrypted using a corresponding sub-key encryption key;

each of the sub-key encryption key is encrypted with a corresponding sub-KEK key;

upon validation of each of the sub-KEK key, the sub-key encryption key is decrypted using the validated sub-KEK key;

each of the sub-data encryption key is decrypted using the corresponding decrypted sub-key encryption key to derive corresponding decrypted sub-data encryption key; and

the decrypted sub-data encryption keys are reassembled to derive the data encryption key.