Enhanced system security

• US 9,436,841 B2
• Filed: 04/30/2014
• Issued: 09/06/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/01/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Salesforce.com, Inc.
• Inventors: O'Connor, Brendan T., Cavalieri, James L. III, Fly, Robert C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hirl, Joseph P
• Assistant Examiner(s): Murphy, J. Brant
• Application Number:
  US14/266,657
• Publication Number:
  US 20140237234A1
• Time in Patent Office: 860 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/606 by securing the transmission between two devices or processes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6209 to a single file or object, e.g. in a secure envelope, encrypted and accessed using a key, or with access control rules appended to the object itself
• 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 21/6245 Protecting personal data, e.g. for financial or medical purposes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2111 Location-sensitive, e.g. geographical location, GPS
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2115 Third party
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/60 Digital content management, e.g. content distribution
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/80 Wireless
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0894 Escrow, recovery or storing of secret information, e.g. secret key escrow or cryptographic key storage
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/321 involving a third party or a trusted authority

Abstract

Methods and systems for maintaining the confidentiality of data provided by an organization for storage on a third party database system are provided. The data can be encrypted on an internal network of the organization and sent to the third party database system for storage. The third party database system can associate metadata with the encrypted data and can store the encrypted data. Accordingly, when a request for the encrypted data is received from a computing device communicating with an internal network of the organization, the encrypted data and associated metadata can be sent to the computing device. A key that is stored on an internal network of the organization can be called through an applet, which utilizes information within the metadata to locate the key on the internal network of the organization.

Claims

1. A method of maintaining the confidentiality of data provided by an organization for storage on a database system including a server and a database, the method comprising:

receiving, by the server, data encrypted on an internal network of the organization using a first key, wherein the first key is stored on the internal network of the organization, the internal network being separate from an external network having the server of the database system by a firewall;

storing, by the server, the encrypted data on the database in association with metadata usable to locate the first key on the internal network of the organization;

providing, by the server, a login page allowing a user of a computing device on the internal network of the organization to log in as a client of the database system,

receiving, by the server, a request for the encrypted data from the computing device; and

sending, by the server, the encrypted data with the associated metadata to the computing device, wherein the metadata is usable by the computing device to locate the first key on the internal network of the organization and decrypt the encrypted data using the first key.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the user logs in to the database system through the login page and selects an object stored on the database system for viewing, wherein the encrypted data comprises one or more fields within the object.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein sending the encrypted data comprises sending the encrypted data as part of a requested page including an applet, wherein the metadata specifies an algorithm utilized for encryption and for use by the applet, wherein the applet utilizes the metadata to obtain the first key and decrypt the encrypted data using the first key.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the applet prompts for a password used to authenticate the computing device.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving selection of one or more fields of an object via an application running on the server of the database system, wherein the encrypted data comprises the one or more fields within the object.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the data entered into the one or more fields is encrypted prior to transfer to the database system.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein different keys are used for different fields of the one or more fields.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the metadata instructs the computing device which particular data fields of the object are associated with the metadata.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the metadata includes an identifier corresponding to the first key; and

the organization provides the identifier associated with the first key to the database system at the same time that the encrypted data is sent to the database system.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing a setup page within an administrator editor application running on the server of the database system, wherein an administrator is able to open, save, or edit the first key in the administrator editor application.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising analyzing an address associated with the request, wherein sending the encrypted data with the associated metadata to the computing device comprises sending an encrypted page along with the metadata when the address is associated with the organization and meets predetermined criteria.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising searching the database system using an encrypted search string from the computing device.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein sending the encrypted data comprises sending the encrypted data as part of a requested page including an applet, the metadata including one or more data entity types, wherein the applet performs one or more security methods on the encrypted data after decryption prior to displaying the decrypted data on the computing device.

14. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium storing a plurality of instructions for controlling one or more processors of the database system to perform the method of claim 1.

15. A system of maintaining confidentiality of data provided by an organization for storage on a database, the system comprising:

one or more processors;

a network interface to an external network separated from an internal network of the organization by a firewall; and

a memory for storing instructions to control the processors, the instructions being executable by the one or more processors to;

receive data encrypted on an internal network of the organization using a first key, wherein the first key is stored on the internal network of the organization;

store the encrypted data on the database in association with metadata usable to locate the first key on the internal network of the organization;

receive a request for the encrypted data from a computing device communicating on the internal network of the organization; and

send the encrypted data with the associated metadata to the computing device, wherein the metadata is usable by the computing device to locate the first key on the internal network of the organization and decrypt the encrypted data using the first key.

16. A method of maintaining the confidentiality of data provided by an organization for storage on a database system including a server and a database, the method comprising:

receiving, by the server, data encrypted on an internal network of the organization using a key, wherein the key is stored on the internal network of the organization and the internal network is separate from an external network having the server of the database system by a firewall;

storing, by the server, the encrypted data on the database in association with metadata including key location information usable to locate the key on the internal network of the organization;

providing, by the server, a webpage allowing a user of a computing device communicating on the internal network of the organization to log in as a client of the database system;

receiving, by the server, a request for a page including the encrypted data from the computing device; and

sending, by the server, the encrypted data and the associated metadata to the computing device as part of the requested page, wherein the associated metadata is usable by the computing device to locate the key on the internal network of the organization and decrypt the encrypted data using the key.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising analyzing an Internet protocol (IP) address of the computing device, wherein the requested page is only sent to the computing device if the IP address is associated with the organization.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising indexing an encrypted data value on the database system and returning the encrypted data when the encrypted data value matches an encrypted search value.

19. The method of claim 16, further comprising sending code to the computing device, wherein the code uses the metadata to obtain the key.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein the requested page includes an applet to be run on the computing device, the applet utilizing the key location information to call the key from a specified location in the internal network, decrypt the encrypted data using the key to obtain plain text data, and display the plain text data.