Masking of different content types

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016283729-A1
Application number	US-201615074472-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Mar 18, 2016
Priority date	Mar 25, 2015
Publication date	Sep 29, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Systems and methods for masking content of different types are described. The system may implement the method comprising receiving a request to mask input content that includes sensitive and non-sensitive data. The method also comprises parsing the input content to create a content specific structure (CSS) to organize the input content in a structured format. The CSS includes a plurality of CSS nodes. The method analyses each CSS node against a pre-defined privacy policy and identifies sensitivity of the each CSS node. The method also creates a generalized masking structure (GMS) by creating a GMS node corresponding to each CSS node. Each GMS node contains sensitivity information related to corresponding CSS node. Data represented by GMS is masked based upon the sensitivity information stored in it.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method for masking content of different types, the method comprising:
receiving a request to mask input content, wherein the input content is of a predefined type, and wherein the input content includes at least one of sensitive content and non-sensitive content;
parsing the input content based on the type of content to create a content specific structure (CSS) and organize the input content in content specific structured format, wherein the CSS includes a plurality of nodes and at least one relation among the plurality of nodes;
analyzing each CSS node from amongst the plurality of CSS nodes based on a pre-defined policy to identify value corresponding to at least one content attribute associated with the each CSS node; wherein content attributes include sensitivity attributes;
creating generalised masking structure (GMS) including a plurality of GMS nodes and at least one GMS relation among the plurality of GMS nodes, wherein each GMS node corresponds to one CSS node from amongst the plurality of CSS nodes, and the at least one GMS relation corresponds to the at least one CSS relation, and wherein each GMS node is associated with the at least one content attribute of the corresponding CSS node; and
masking the input content based on the created GMS.

2 . A method of claim 1 , wherein masking further comprises creating a reduced generalised masking structure (RGMS) from the GMS based on a value of sensitivity attributes of each GMS node.

3 . A method of claim 2 further comprises storing the RGMS to create a pool of stored R-GMSs.

4 . A method of claim 2 , wherein creating the R-GMS further comprises:
identifying at least one set of GMS nodes from amongst a plurality of GMS nodes of a GMS with same value of sensitivity attributes, and grouping the GMS nodes of the identified set of GMS nodes into a single GMS node.

5 . A method of claim 2 , wherein creating the RGMS further comprises:
identifying a first set of GMS nodes from amongst the plurality of GMS nodes with same value of sensitivity attributes, wherein the value of sensitivity attributes of the first set of GMS nodes is non-sensitive; and removing the first set of GMS nodes from the GMS, wherein the first set of GMS nodes is structurally ineffective on other non-sensitive GMS nodes, and wherein structural ineffectiveness is based on structural properties associated with the first set of GMS nodes.

6 . A method of claim 5 further comprising:
identifying a second set of GMS nodes associated with the first set of GMS nodes, wherein the second set of GMS nodes and the first set of GMS nodes have same value of sensitivity attributes; and
removing the second set of GMS nodes from the GMS, wherein the second set of GMS nodes is structurally ineffective on the other GMS, and wherein structural ineffectiveness is based on structural properties of the GMS nodes.

7 . A method of claim 2 further comprises:
comparing the RGMS with a pool of stored RGMS to identify at least one stored RGMS with equivalent structures of that of the RGMS;
identifying the equivalent structures, receiving the RGMS and at least one equivalent structure from amongst the pool of stored RGMS;
retrieving masking information corresponding to the equivalent structure from repository; and
masking the input content, based on the retrieved masking information, by sending the RGMS for masking.

8 . A method of claim 7 , wherein the masking the input content further comprises, in absence of the equivalent structures, masking the input content, based on the created GMS, by sending the RGMS for masking.

9 . A method of 1 , wherein the request further includes authentication parameters and the authentication signature.

10 . A method of 1 , wherein the structural properties of each of the plurality of GMS nodes include location of the GMS node in the GMS and number of GMS nodes associated with the GMS node.

11 . A data masking system for masking sensitive content comprising:
a processor; a CSS creation module coupled to the processor to parse input content based on the type of input content to create a content specific structure (CSS) and organize the input content in content specific structured format, wherein the CSS includes a plurality of nodes and at least one relation among the plurality of nodes; a sensitivity analyzing module coupled to the processor to analyze each CSS node from amongst a plurality of CSS nodes based on a pre-defined policy to identify value corresponding to at least one content attribute associated with the each CSS node, wherein content attributes include sensitivity attributes; a GMS creation module coupled to the processor to create generalised masking structure (GMS) including a plurality of GMS nodes and at least one GMS relation among the plurality of GMS nodes, wherein each GMS node corresponds to one CSS node from amongst the plurality of CSS nodes, and the at least one GMS relation corresponds to at least one CSS relation, and wherein the each GMS node is associated with the at least one content attribute of the corresponding CSS node; and a data masking module coupled to the processor to mask the input content based on the created GMS.

12 . A data masking system of claim 11 , wherein the data masking system further comprises a RGMS creation module to create a reduced generalised masking structure (RGMS) from the GMS based on a value of sensitivity attributes of each GMS node.

13 . A data masking system of claim 12 , wherein the RGMS creation module is to:
identify at least one set of GMS nodes from amongst a plurality of GMS nodes of a GMS with same value of sensitivity attributes; and group the GMS nodes of the identified set of GMS nodes into a single GMS node.

14 . A data masking system of claim 12 , wherein the RGMS creation module is to:
identify a first set of GMS nodes from amongst the plurality of GMS nodes with same value of sensitivity attributes, wherein the value of sensitivity attributes of the first set of GMS nodes is non-sensitive; and remove the first set of GMS nodes from the GMS, wherein the first set of GMS nodes is structurally ineffective on other non-sensitive GMS nodes, and wherein structural ineffectiveness is based on structural properties associated with the first set of GMS nodes.

15 . A data masking system of claim 14 , wherein the RGMS creation module is to:
identify a second set of GMS nodes associated with the first set of GMS nodes, wherein the second set of GMS nodes and the first set of GMS nodes have same value of sensitivity attributes; and remove the second set of GMS nodes from the GMS, wherein the second set of GMS nodes is structurally ineffective on the other GMS, and wherein structural ineffectiveness is based on structural properties of the GMS nodes

16 . A data masking system of claim 12 , wherein the RGMS creation module stores the RGMSs to a pool of stored RGMSs.

17 . A data masking system of claim 12 , wherein the RGMS creation module is to:
compare the RGMS with a pool of stored RGMS to identify at least one stored RGMS with equivalent structures of that of the RGMS; and mask the input content based on the created GMS sending the set of RGMS for masking.

18 . A computer program product having embodied thereon a computer program for receiving a request to mask input content, wherein the input content is of a predefined type, and wherein the input content includes at least one of sensitive content and non-sensitive content;
parsing the input content based on the type

Assignees

• Tata Consultancy Services Ltd

Inventors

• Vidhani Kumar Mansukhlal
• Vyas Devangi Deveshkumar
• Jain Mayur
• Banahatti Vijayanand Mahadeo
• Lodha Sachin Premsukh

Classifications

• G06F21/6218 Primary

  to a system of files or objects, e.g. local or distributed file system or database · CPC title

• G06F21/6209 Primary

  to a single file or object, e.g. in a secure envelope, encrypted and accessed using a key, or with access control rules appended to the object itself · CPC title

• G06F21/6254 Primary

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

• G06F40/205

  Parsing · CPC title

• G06F21/30

  Authentication, i.e. establishing the identity or authorisation of security principals · CPC title