Data redaction system

• US 9,934,390 B2
• Filed: 09/24/2013
• Issued: 04/03/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/24/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Emc IP Holding Company LLC (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Emc IP Holding Company LLC (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Gile, Michael Scott
• Primary Examiner(s): Dinh, Minh
• Application Number:
  US14/035,034
• Publication Number:
  US 20150089663A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,652 Days
• Field of Search: 726 27
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/62 Protecting access to data via a platform, e.g. using keys or access control rules
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6218 to a system of files or objects, e.g. local or distributed file system or database

Abstract

An electronic data storage and retrieval system comprising one or more first computing devices and a second computing device. The one or more first computing devices comprise a plurality of first data files, wherein, each of the plurality of first data files is associated with a first authentication level. The second computing device is associated with a second authentication level. Upon receiving a request to provide at least one of the plurality of first data files from the second computing device, the one or more first computing devices compares the first authentication level with the second authentication level, and creates a copy of the at least one of the plurality of first data files. The copy of the at least one of the plurality of first data files comprises a portion of the at least one of the plurality of first data files.

Claims

1. A method of providing one or more electronic data files comprising,

storing a first copy of the one or more electronic data files on a first computing device, wherein a first authentication level is associated with the first copy of the one or more electronic data files;

receiving at the first computing device a request for the first copy of the one or more electronic data files, wherein, the request for the first copy of the one or more electronic data files is received from a second computing device;

determining a second authentication level associated with the request;

in response to receiving the request, using the first authentication level and second authentication level to create a second copy of the one or more electronic data files, wherein, the second copy of the one or more electronic data files comprises a portion of the first copy of the one or more electronic data files; and

sending the second copy of the one or more electronic data files to the second computing device,

wherein,

the first authentication level is referenced in an authentication packet received by the first computing device;

the second authentication level is referenced in an authentication token received by the first computing device; and

using the first authentication level and second authentication level to create a second copy of the one or more electronic data files comprises,

comparing, in response to receiving the request, information in the authentication packet to information in the authentication token, and

determining which of one or more redaction modules to implement,

wherein, the one or more redaction modules comprise at least one of,

a text string redaction module;

an image matching redaction module; and

a binary code redaction module, and

wherein, using the first authentication level and second authentication level to create a second copy of the one or more electronic data files comprises aggregating information received form the text string redaction module, image matching redaction module, and binary code redaction module to create the second copy of the data file,

wherein the authentication token received by the first computing device is created from a username and password of a user of the second computing device, and

wherein the first computing device receives the second authentication level associated with the request from an authentication server before the first computing device receives the first authentication level.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein,

the second computing device comprises a remote mobile computing device;

and

the request for the first copy of the one or more electronic data files comprises an http request from one of,

a mobile computing device browser, and

a mobile computing device application.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein, the text string redaction module comprises redacting at least one of,

one or more keywords;

one or more expressions; and

one or more contact information.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein, the image matching redaction module comprises modifying a color of one or more image pixels.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the request for the first copy of the one or more electronic data files is a first request, and wherein method further comprises:

temporarily storing the second copy of the one or more electronic data files in a cache for a predetermined period of time;

receiving a second request for the first copy of the one or more electronic data files; and

in response to receiving the second request, providing the second copy of the one or more electronic data files from the cache to satisfy the second request.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

implementing a first redaction module constructed and arranged to remove text strings from the first data file;

implementing a second redaction module constructed and arranged to remove binary code from the first data file;

identifying, by the first redaction module, a content portion to be removed from the first data file;

identifying, by the second redaction module, the content portion as a portion not to be removed from the first data file; and

wherein the method further comprises assigning a priority to each of the redaction modules, wherein, the priority is based at least in part on the content portion, wherein the content portion to be removed or not removed by the redaction modules overlaps, and wherein the method further comprises applying the redaction module with the higher priority in determining whether to remove or not remove the content portion.

7. A non-transitory, tangible computer readable storage medium, encoded with processor readable instructions to perform a method of providing a data file to a remote device comprising,

receiving, by a computing device, a request for the data file, wherein,

the request is received from the remote device, and

the data file comprises a first data file;

identifying,

for the first data file,

a file type, and

a first authentication level referenced in an authentication packet received by the computing device, and

a second authentication level associated with the request for the data file and received by the computing device in an authentication token;

comparing, upon receiving the request from the remote device, the first authentication level to the second authentication level;

implementing multiple redaction modules, wherein each of the redaction modules is adapted to,

remove a portion of the first data file based on comparing the first authentication level to the second authentication level, and

create a redaction module data file;

aggregating each of the redaction module data files into a single data file, wherein the single data file comprises a second data file; and

providing the second data file to the remote device,

wherein,

the portion of the first data file comprises content type; and

further comprising,

assigning a priority to each of the redaction modules, wherein, the priority is based at least in part on the first data file content, wherein content to be removed or not removed by the redaction modules overlap, and wherein the method further comprises applying the redaction module with the higher priority in determining whether to remove or not remove the content,

wherein the authentication token received by the computing device is created from a username and password of a user of the remote device, and

wherein the computing device receives the second authentication level associated with the request from an authentication server before the computing device receives the first authentication level.

8. The non-transitory, tangible computer readable storage medium of claim 7 wherein,

the file type comprises a media file;

the media file comprises at least one image;

at least one of the one or more redaction modules comprises image recognition software; and

the portion of the first data file removed comprises at least a portion of an image.

9. The non-transitory, tangible computer readable storage medium of claim 7 wherein,

the request for the data file comprises an http request;

and

the file type is identified through one or more http request headers.

10. The non-transitory, tangible computer readable storage medium of claim 7 further comprising, identifying a first data file content through mime-type identification.

11. The non-transitory, tangible computer readable storage medium of claim 7 wherein the content type comprises one of text, image, and audio.

12. The non-transitory, tangible computer readable storage medium of claim 7 wherein, the one or more redaction modules are further adapted to determine at least a portion of a content type of the first data file.