Systems and methods for efficient reporting of historical security awareness data

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12443748-B2
Application number	US-202318509029-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 14, 2023
Priority date	Nov 15, 2022
Publication date	Oct 14, 2025
Grant date	Oct 14, 2025

Abstract

The present disclosure describes systems and methods for efficient reporting of data which includes personally identifiable information (PII) and which is collected and processed by a security awareness system. The data may be stored in a data storage system. The data may include a time stamp and queries of an historical nature may be supported. In the event that PII is removed from the data storage system, then the removal may propagate through all aspects of the data storage system, including the historical data.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for more efficiently storing and removing personally identifiable information (PII) in a data storage system, the method comprising:
receiving, by one or more devices, a request to store data to one or more data records in a data storage system, the data comprising one or more data items of PII of a user, joined PII and non-PII;
storing, by the one or more devices, the one or more PII data items, the one or more joined PII data items and the one or more non-PII data items to a data record of the one or more data records;
identifying, by an agent of the one or more devices, that the data record has the one or more PII, one or more joined PII and one or more non-PII data items within the data;
generating, by the one or more devices, a PII user identifier for the user;
replacing, by the one or more devices, in the data record the one or more PII data items with a first set of links to the one or more PII data items stored in a PII data table in association with the PII user identifier and the one or more joined PII data items with a second set of links to the one or more joined PII data items stored in a joined PII data table in association with the PII user identifier;
receiving, by the one or more devices, a second request to remove PII associated with the user;
replacing, by the one or more devices, at least the one or more PII data items in the PII data table with a value indicating the PII data item has been removed;
validating, by a removal and validation agent, that removal of the PII associated with the user has occurred throughout the data storage system; and
providing, by the removal and validation agent responsive to validating, a report that the PII associated with the user has been removed.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the PII data table and the joined PII data table are included in a single table associated with the PII user identifier.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising replacing, by the one or more devices responsive to the second request, the one or more joined PII data items in the joined PII data table with the value indicating that the one or more joined PII data item has been removed.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising storing, by the one or more devices, the one or more PII data items in the PII data table in association with the PII user identifier.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising storing, by the one or more devices, the one or more joined PII data items in the joined PII data table in association with the PII user identifier.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more joined PII data items are data items which in combination with other data items become PII.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the data storage system comprises a data lake.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the value comprises a string that identifies details of the removal of the PII.

9. The method of claim 1 , further creating, by the one or more devices, an intermediate data record to store one of a copy of the one or more PII data items or the first set of links to the one or more PII data items and one of a copy of the one or more joined PII data items or the second set of links to the one or more joined PII data items.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising removing, by the or more devices responsive to the second request, the copy of the one or more PII data items and the copy of the one or more joined PII data items from the intermediate data record.

11. A system for more efficiently storing and removing personally identifiable information (PII) in a data storage system, the system comprising:
one or more devices configured to:
receive a request to store data to one or more data records in a data storage system, the data comprising one or more data items of PII of a user, joined PII and non-PII;
store the one or more PII data items, the one or more joined PII data items and the one or more non-PII data items to a data record of the one or more data records;
cause an agent to determine that the data record has the one or more PII, one or more joined PII and one or more non-PII data items within the data;
generate a PII user identifier for the user;
replace in the data record the one or more PII data items with a first set of links to the one or more PII data items stored in a PII data table in association with the PII user identifier and the one or more joined PII data items with a second set of links to the one or more joined PII data items stored in a joined PII data table in association with the PII user identifier;
receive a second request to remove PII associated with the user;
replace at least the one or more PII data items in the PII data table with a value indicating the PII data item has been removed; and
cause a removal and validation agent to validate that removal of the PII associated with the user has occurred throughout the data storage system and provide a report that the PII associated with the user has been removed.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the PII data table and the joined PII data table are included in a single table associated with the PII user identifier.

13. The system of claim 11 , wherein the one or more devices are further configured to replace, responsive to the second request, the one or more joined PII data items in the joined PII data table with the value indicating that the one or more joined PII data item has been removed.

14. The system of claim 11 , wherein the one or more devices are further configured to store the one or more PII data items in the PII data table in association with the PII user identifier.

15. The system of claim 11 , wherein the one or more devices are further configured to store the one or more joined PII data items in the joined PII data table in association with the PII user identifier.

16. The system of claim 11 , wherein the one or more joined PII data items are data items which in combination with other data items become PII.

17. The system of claim 11 , wherein the data storage systems comprises a data lake.

18. The system of claim 11 , wherein the value comprises a string that identifies details of the removal of the PII.

19. The system of claim 11 , wherein the one or more devices are further configured to create an intermediate data record to store one of a copy of the one or more PII data items or the first set of links to the one or more PII data items and one of a copy of the one or more joined PII data items or the second set of links to the one or more joined PII data items.

20. The system of claim 19 , wherein the one or more devices are further configured to remove, responsive to the second request, the copy of the one or more PII data items and the copy of the one or more joined PII data items from the intermediate data record.

Assignees

• Knowbe4 Inc

Inventors

• Thomas Sunil Mathew
• Hayward Peter John
• Rosochacki Phillip Samuel
• Skinner Raymond
• Patton Mark William

Classifications

• H04L2209/42

  Anonymization, e.g. involving pseudonyms · CPC title

• G06F21/6254

  by anonymising data, e.g. decorrelating personal data from the owner's identification · CPC title

• G06F21/6227

  where protection concerns the structure of data, e.g. records, types, queries · CPC title

• G06F21/6245 Primary

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