Privacy annotation from differential analysis of snapshots

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10540518-B2
Application number	US-201715808432-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 9, 2017
Priority date	Mar 23, 2017
Publication date	Jan 21, 2020
Grant date	Jan 21, 2020

Abstract

A method is provided for preventing divulgation of sensitive data in two snapshots, taken at different times, of one or more same systems in a cloud environment. The method includes identifying a set of files from among a plurality of file pairs. Each file pair is formed from a respective file that includes at least one difference with respect to each snapshot. The method includes performing a pattern reducing process that removes, from the set of files, any of the files having, as the difference, a predetermined non-sensitive difference between respective executions of a pre-determined system operation. The method includes performing a commonality reducing process that removes, from the set of files, any files having, as the difference, a common difference between different users. The method includes annotating data in remaining files in the set of files as potentially being the sensitive data, subsequent to the reducing processes.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A computer program product for preventing divulgation of sensitive data in two snapshots, taken at different times, of one or more same systems in a cloud environment, the computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by a computer to cause the computer to perform a method comprising:
identifying, by a hardware processor of the computer, a set of files from among a plurality of file pairs, each of the plurality of file pairs being formed from a respective file that includes at least one difference with respect to each of the two snapshots;
performing, by the hardware processor, a pattern reducing process that removes, from the set of files, any of the files having, as the at least one difference, a predetermined nonsensitive difference between respective executions of a pre-determined system operation;
performing, by the hardware processor, a commonality reducing process that removes, from the set of files, any of the files having, as the at least one difference, a common difference between different system users; and
annotating, by the hardware processor, data in remaining ones of the files in the set of files as potentially being the sensitive data, subsequent to said pattern reducing and commonality reducing processes;
prompting the user to provide a user input indicating whether to delete the annotated data; and
deleting the annotated data responsive to the user input.

2. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises:
checking annotations of the annotated data to generate an annotation checking result; and
modifying a system configuration of at least one of the one or more same systems, responsive to the annotation checking result.

3. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the two snapshots comprise at least one Virtual Machine (VM) image of the one or more same systems of the cloud environment.

4. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the two snapshots comprise at least one Sandbox-based image of the one or more same systems of the cloud environment.

5. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the two snapshots comprise at least one Sandbox-based image and at least one actual-system-based image of the one or more same systems of the cloud environment.

6. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein each of the plurality of file pairs is formed based on the respective files therein having the at least one difference there between selected from the group consisting of (i) different attributes, (ii) different hash values and (iii) a status of one of the respective files being added or deleted relative to the other one of the respective files in a given one of the file pairs.

7. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the common difference between the different system users is determined based on image content similarity data and image relationship data.

8. The computer program product of claim 7 , wherein the image content similarity data is selected from the group consisting of operating system data, distribution data, file creation data, and file update data.

9. The computer program product of claim 7 , wherein the image relationship data comprises meta-data derived image history data.

10. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined non-sensitive difference between the respective executions of the pre-determined system operation is determined using a Sandbox host, and wherein the common difference between the different system users is determined using an actual one of the one or more systems.

11. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the commonality reducing process and the pattern reducing process are iteratively performed based on one or more iteration criterion.

12. The computer program product of claim 11 , wherein the one or more iteration criterion comprise an absence of further size reduction in the remaining ones of the files in the set.

13. A system for preventing divulgation of sensitive data in two snapshots, taken at different times, of one or more same systems in a cloud environment, the system comprising:
one or more hardware processors, configured to:
identify a set of files from among a plurality of file pairs, each of the plurality of file pairs being formed from a respective file that includes at least one difference with respect to each of the two snapshots;
perform a pattern reducing process that removes, from the set of files, any of the files having, as the at least one difference, a predetermined non-sensitive difference between respective executions of a pre-determined system operation;
perform a commonality reducing process that removes, from the set of files, any of the files having, as the at least one difference, a common difference between different system users: and
annotate data in remaining ones of the files in the set of files as potentially being the sensitive data, subsequent to said pattern reducing and commonality reducing processes;
prompting the user to provide a user input indicating whether to delete the annotated data; and
deleting the annotated data responsive to the user input.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the common difference between the different system users is determined based on image content similarity data and image relationship data.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the image content similarity data is selected from the group consisting of operating system data, distribution data, file creation data, and file update data.

16. The system of claim 14 , wherein the image relationship data comprises meta-data derived image history data.

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Ishida Ai
• Mishina Takuya
• Watanabe Yuji

Classifications

• G06F21/6245 Primary

  Protecting personal data, e.g. for financial or medical purposes · CPC title

• G06F21/60

  Protecting data · CPC title

• G06F21/577

  Assessing vulnerabilities and evaluating computer system security · CPC title

• G06F21/554

  involving event detection and direct action · CPC title

• G06F11/366

  using diagnostics (G06F11/0703 takes precedence) · CPC title