Technology-agnostic application for high confidence exchange of data between an enterprise and third parties

• US 9,716,692 B2
• Filed: 01/01/2015
• Issued: 07/25/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 01/01/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bank of America Corp.
• Original Assignee: Bank of America Corp.
• Inventors: Cismas, Sorin N., Kurian, Manu Jacob
• Primary Examiner(s): Poltorak, Peter
• Application Number:
  US14/588,425
• Publication Number:
  US 20160197885A1
• Time in Patent Office: 936 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/606 by securing the transmission between two devices or processes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/04 for providing a confidential data exchange among entities communicating through data packet networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/105 Multiple levels of security
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/107 wherein the security policies are location-dependent, e.g. entities privileges depend on current location or allowing specific operations only from locally connected terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]

Abstract

A technology-agnostic and protocol-agnostic system for transferring data between an enterprise, such as a financial institution or the like and external entities, such as commercial banking customers and the like. The embodiments described provide the user with a data transfer solution that is compatible with all major operating systems, supports mobile platforms and allows for local data transfer, as well as, data transfer from cloud services and cloud connection services. The comprehensive nature of the application provides for applicable data transfer amongst all of the different services provided by the enterprise and provides the user/external entity with a streamlined means for transferring data to and from the enterprise. The application minimizes external entity involvement from an Information Technology (IT) standpoint, such that any user can efficiently, effectively and reliably transfer data to and from an enterprise with minimal risk and high confidence.

Claims

1. An apparatus for transferring data between an enterprise and an external entity, the apparatus comprising:

an external entity-side computing platform having a memory and at least one processor in communication with the memory; and

a data transfer application stored in the memory, executable by the processor and including;

a plurality of external-entity specific modules configured for protocol-agnostic and technology-agnostic transfer of data between the external entity and enterprise, wherein each of the plurality of modules (i) are specific to a service provided to the external entity by the enterprise, (ii) provide for the transfer of data via a secure connection between the external entity and the service, (iii) are associated with at least one external entity identifier that automatically attaches to a data file being transferred, wherein the data file, upon receipt by the enterprise is automatically routed to a storage location based on the service associated with module and the external entity identifier, and (iv) provide for the enterprise to configure and dynamically change, without intervention by the external entity, the security level based on one or more of (1) risk associated with data being transferred or (2) current data transfer vulnerabilities identified by the enterprise, wherein the security level defines at least one of encryption method, timing of data transfer and transfer protocol, and a first user-interface configured to provide for the external entity to select a module for (1) dynamic transferring of one or more data files from the external entity to the enterprise, and (2) pre-configuring scheduled transfers of one or more data files.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the enterprise is defined as a financial institution and the external entity is one of a commercial customer, a consumer customer or a vendor.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the data transfer application is self-updating to provide for the enterprise to, without external entity intervention, (1) implement revisions to the plurality of modules, (2) make changes to external entity data associated with a module and (3) provide new modules to the data transfer application in response to the external entity adding associated new services.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the data transfer application is self-regulating to provide for the enterprise to, without external entity intervention, ensure that the application is compliant with enterprise regulations.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the data transfer application further includes a second user-interface configured to provide for a user to track a status of the transfer of data.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the plurality of external-entity specific modules are further configured for protocol-agnostic and technology-agnostic transfer of data from the external entity to the enterprise, wherein the data that is transferred may be data stored locally at the external entity or data accessible to the external entity via cloud storage.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the plurality of external-entity specific modules are further configured to provide for the transfer of data via a secure connection between the external entity and a middleware component of the service.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first user-interface is further configured to provide for the external entity to select a module for pre-configuring scheduled transfers of one or more data files, wherein pre-configured scheduled transfers may be configured to provide for data files to be automatically transferred upon creation of the data file or at predetermined times.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, where the data transfer application is further configured to provide for temporary secure connection channels and temporary connection profiles that are configured to provide for one-time transfer of data between the enterprise and external entity and are removed from the memory or disabled upon completion of the one-time transfer.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the data transfer application is further configured to provide for throttled transfer of data, wherein a data file is segmented and communicated in individual segments.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the data transfer application is further configured to recognize a geographic location from which a data file is transferred and comply with encryption rules associated with the geographic location.

12. A system for transferring data between an enterprise and external entity, the system comprising:

a computing device accessible to the external entity, in communication with a first memory and including at least one first processor;

a data transfer application stored in the first memory, executable by the first processor and including a plurality of external-entity specific modules configured for protocol-agnostic and technology-agnostic transfer of data between the external entity and enterprise, wherein each of the plurality of modules (i) are specific to a service provided to the external entity by the enterprise, (ii) provide for the transfer of data via a secure connection between the external entity and the service, (iii) are associated with at least one external entity identifier that automatically attaches to data being transferred, and (iv) provide for the enterprise to configure and dynamically change, without intervention by the external entity, the security level based on one or more of (1) risk associated with data being transferred or (2) current data transfer vulnerabilities identified by the enterprise, wherein the security level defines at least one of encryption method, timing of data transfer and transfer protocol;

a hub computing device under control of the enterprise, in communication with a second memory and including at least one second processor; and

a data transfer management application stored in the second memory, executable by the second processor and configured for receiving the transfer of data via the secure connections and determining automatic enterprise routing and storage location for the data based on the service associated with the module and the external entity identifier associated with the data being transferred.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the data transfer application is further configured for providing a user-interface that is configured to provide the external entity to select a module for (1) dynamic transferring of one or more data files from the external entity to the enterprise, or (2) pre-configuring scheduled transfers of one or more data files.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the data transfer management application is further configured to communicate to the data transfer application (1) revisions to the plurality of modules, (2) updates to external entity data or service data associated with a module, (3) new modules in response to the external entity adding services and wherein the data transfer application is further configured to receive (1) the revisions, (2) the updates and (3) the new modules without external entity user intervention.

15. An apparatus for transferring data between a financial institution and third-party associated with the financial institution, the apparatus comprising:

a computing platform under control of and accessible to the third-party, in communication with a memory and including at least one processor in communication with the memory; and

a data transfer application stored in the memory, executable by the processor and including;

a plurality of third-party specific modules configured for protocol-agnostic and technology-agnostic transfer of data between the third-party and the financial institution, wherein each of the plurality of modules (1) are specific to a service provided to the third-party by the financial institution, (2) provide for the transfer of data via a secure connection between the third-party and the service, and (3) are associated with one or more third-party identifiers that automatically attach to a data file being transferred, wherein the data file, upon receipt by the financial institution is automatically routed to a storage location associated with the third-party identifier and the service associated with the module, and (4) provide for the enterprise to configure and dynamically change, without intervention by the external entity, the security level based on one or more of (i) risk associated with data being transferred or (ii) current data transfer vulnerabilities identified by the enterprise, wherein the security level defines at least one of encryption method, timing of data transfer and transfer protocol, and a user-interface configured to provide the third-party selection of a module for (1) dynamic transferring of one or more data files from the third-party to the financial institution, and (2) pre-configuring scheduled transfers of one or more data files.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the data transfer application is self-updating to provide for the financial institution to, without third-party user intervention, (1) implement revisions to the plurality of modules, (2) make changes to third-party data associated with a module and (3) provide new modules to the data transfer application in response to the third-party adding associated new services.