Securing database content

• US 9,965,507 B2
• Filed: 08/06/2010
• Issued: 05/08/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 08/06/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Srivastava, Divesh, Chen, Su, Dong, Xin, Viravanallur, Lakshmanan Sundaram
• Primary Examiner(s): Wu, Yicun
• Application Number:
  US12/852,017
• Publication Number:
  US 20120036136A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,832 Days
• Field of Search: 707769, 707783
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/21 Design, administration or maintenance of databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/213 with details for schema evolution support
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/215 Improving data quality; Data cleansing, e.g. de-duplication, removing invalid entries or correcting typographical errors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/245 Query processing

Abstract

A method for securing content in a database includes identifying a challenge column associated with a database column referenced in an update query. A challenge value for the challenge column may be received and resolved for a match with a corresponding value stored in the challenge column. In case of a match, the update query may be certified for execution on the database, otherwise, the update query may be prevented from executing. Challenge columns may be determined by an analysis of the database on the basis of discriminating power, description complexity, and/or diversity.

Claims

1. A method for accessing a database, comprising:

receiving, by a server, an update query associated with the database, the update query sent from a client device requesting an update to the database, the update query specifying a column in the database and validation values for authenticating the update requested to the database;

querying, by the server, a database specification for the column specified by the update query, the database specification electronically associating challenge columns in challenge tables to columns in the database;

identifying, by the server, a first challenge column of the challenge columns in the database specification that is electronically associated to the column specified by the update query;

identifying, by the server, a second challenge column of the challenge columns in the database specification that is electronically associated to the column specified by the update query;

identifying, by the server, two challenge values from the challenge columns, a first challenge value of the two challenge values retrieved from the first challenge column in the database specification, and a second challenge value of the two challenge values retrieved from the second challenge column in the database specification;

comparing, by the server, the two challenge values identified from the challenge columns to the validation values specified by the update query;

determining, by the server, matches between the two challenge values identified from the challenge columns and the validation values specified by the update query; and

validating, by the server, the update query for execution in response to the matches between the two challenge values and the validation values.

2. The method of claim 1, comprising receiving a selection sent from the client device, the selection selecting between one of the first challenge column and the second challenge column.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising retrieving the two challenge values.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising randomly selecting the first challenge value from the first challenge column.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising randomly selecting the second challenge value from the second challenge column.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining a characteristic of data referenced by the database.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising ranking the challenge columns in the database specification according to the characteristic of the data.

8. A computer system, comprising:

a computer processor; and

a memory device, the memory device storing instructions, the instructions when executed cause the computer processor to perform operations, the operations comprising;

receiving an update query associated with a database, the update query sent from a client device requesting an update to the database, the update query specifying a column in the database and validation values for authenticating the update requested to the database;

querying a database specification for the column specified by the update query, the database specification electronically associating challenge columns in challenge tables to columns in the database;

identifying the challenge columns in the database specification that are electronically associated to the column specified by the update query;

randomly selecting a first challenge column of the challenge columns identified in the database specification that is electronically associated to the column specified by the update query;

randomly selecting a first challenge value from the first challenge column randomly selected from the challenge columns;

randomly selecting a second challenge column of the challenge columns identified in the database specification that is electronically associated to the column specified by the update query;

randomly selecting a second challenge value from the second challenge column randomly selected from the challenge columns;

comparing the first challenge value randomly selected from the first challenge column and the second challenge value randomly selected from the second challenge column to the validation values specified by the update query;

determining matches between the first challenge value and the second challenge value and the validation values specified by the update query; and

validating the update query for execution in response to the matches.

9. The computer system of claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise preventing the update query responsive to a failure of any one of the matches.

10. The computer system of claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise retrieving the first challenge value from the first challenge column.

11. The computer system of claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise retrieving the second challenge value from the second challenge column.

12. The computer system of claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise determining a characteristic of data referenced by the database.

13. The computer system of claim 12, wherein the operations further comprise ranking the challenge columns according to the characteristic of the data.

14. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions which, when executed by a computer processor, cause the computer processor to perform operations, the operations comprising:

receiving an update query associated with a database, the update query sent from a client device requesting an update to the database, the update query specifying a column of the database and validation values for authenticating the update requested by the client device;

querying a database specification for the column specified by the update query, the database specification electronically associating challenge columns in challenge tables to columns in the database;

identifying the challenge columns in the database specification that are electronically associated to the column specified by the update query;

randomly selecting a first challenge column of the challenge columns identified in the database specification that is electronically associated to the column specified by the update query;

randomly selecting a first challenge value from the first challenge column randomly selected from the challenge columns;

randomly selecting a second challenge column of the challenge columns identified in the database specification that is electronically associated to the column specified by the update query;

randomly selecting a second challenge value from the second challenge column randomly selected from the challenge columns;

comparing the first challenge value randomly selected from the first challenge column and the second challenge value randomly selected from the second challenge column to the validation values specified by the update query;

determining matches between the first challenge value and the second challenge value and the validation values; and

validating the update query for execution in response to the matches.

15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein the operations further comprise updating a record in the column.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise retrieving at least one of the first challenge value randomly selected from the first challenge column and the second challenge value randomly selected from the second challenge column.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein the operations further comprise denying the execution of the update query responsive to a failure of any one of the matches.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein the operations further comprise determining a characteristic of data referenced by the database.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 18, wherein the operations further comprise ranking the challenge columns according to the characteristic of the data.