Intelligent Deletion of Revoked Data

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017005809-A1
Application number	US-201514788377-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 30, 2015
Priority date	Jun 30, 2015
Publication date	Jan 5, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

A program on a device communicates with services of an organization and obtains data associated with the organization (also referred to as organization data). The organization data is optionally encrypted using one or more encryption keys, in which case the program has access to one or more decryption keys allowing the organization data to be decrypted and used at the device. Situations can arise in which the organization data stored on the device is to no longer be accessible to a user and/or the device, which is also referred to as the data being revoked. In response to organization data being revoked at the device, various techniques are used to intelligently delete the data, which refers to determining, based on the revocation that occurred and the nature of the data on the device, which data on the device is to be deleted from the device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method implemented in a computing device, the method comprising:
determining whether access to first organization data on the computing device has been revoked, the first organization data comprising data that is associated with an organization; selecting, in response to the access being revoked and based at least on a nature of the first organization data, second organization data on the computing device, the second organization data comprising a subset of the first organization data; and deleting the second organization data from the computing device.

2 . The method as recited in claim 1 , the first organization data including one or more files on the computing device and/or one or more database entries on the computing device.

3 . The method as recited in claim 1 , the first organization data including metadata regarding other of the first organization data.

4 . The method as recited in claim 1 , the second organization data comprising data that is associated with revoked user credentials.

5 . The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising prioritizing the second organization data so that second organization data that is more sensitive has a higher priority than second organization data that is less sensitive, and the deleting comprising deleting the higher priority second organization data before deleting lower priority second organization data.

6 . The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising synchronizing the first organization data with one or more additional computing devices that are managed by a same organization as the computing device.

7 . The method as recited in claim 6 , further comprising:
determining, for a data deletion at the computing device, whether the second organization data is being deleted in response to a revocation event; synchronizing the data deletion with the one or more additional computing devices in response to the second organization data being deleted other than in response to the revocation event; and not synchronizing the data deletion with the one or more additional computing devices in response to the second organization data being deleted in response to the revocation event.

8 . The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising:
maintaining a record that access to the first organization data on the computing device has been revoked; and performing the selecting and deleting for second organization data stored on a removable storage device in response to the removable storage device being connected to the computing device.

9 . The method as recited in claim 1 , the selecting the second organization data further comprising excluding, from the second organization data, first organization data that is still associated on the computing device with at least one valid credential, the valid credential corresponding to a user that is associated with the first organization data or an organization that is associated with the data.

10 . The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising notifying one or more programs on the computing device that access to the first organization data on the computing device has been revoked to allow the one or more programs to take an appropriate responsive action.

11 . The method as recited in claim 1 , the second organization data including data for which the storage and retrieval is managed by a program that communicates with an organization service of the organization, as well as data for which the storage and retrieval is not managed by the program.

12 . The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising:
determining a portion of the second organization data that can be decrypted rather than deleted; and decrypting and saving the portion of the second organization data rather than deleting the portion of the second organization data.

13 . A computing device comprising:
a storage device configured to store first organization data that is associated with an organization; a revocation detection module configured to determine whether access to the first organization data on the computing device has been revoked; a data selection module configured to receive an indication from the revocation detection module that access to the first organization data has been revoked, and to select, in response to the access being revoked and based at least on a nature of the first organization data, second organization data on the computing device that is to be deleted, the second organization data comprising at least a portion of the first organization data; and a data deletion module configured to receive an indication from the data selection module with respect to the second organization data and to delete from the computing device the second organization data.

14 . The computing device as recited in claim 13 , the second organization data including one or more files on the computing device and/or one or more database entries on the computing device.

15 . The computing device as recited in claim 13 , the second organization data including metadata regarding other of the second organization data.

16 . The computing device as recited in claim 13 , the computing device further comprising a synchronization module to synchronize the first organization data with one or more additional computing devices that are managed by a same organization as the computing device, the data selection module being further to:
determine, for a data deletion at the computing device, whether the second organization data is being deleted in response to a revocation event; synchronize the data deletion with the one or more additional computing devices in response to the second organization data being deleted other than in response to the revocation event; and not synchronize the data deletion with the one or more additional computing devices in response to the second organization data being deleted in response to the revocation event.

17 . The computing device as recited in claim 13 , the data selection module being further configured to:
maintain a record that access to the first organization data on the computing device has been revoked; and select, and indicate to the data deletion module to delete, the second organization data on a removable device connected to the computing device in response to the removable device being connected to the computing device.

18 . A computing device comprising:
a storage device configured to store first organization data that is associated with an organization; a data selection module configured to select second organization data for deletion from the computing device in response to access to the first organization data on the computing device having been revoked, the second organization data comprising a subset of the first organization data, the selection of the second organization data comprising excluding from the second organization data any of the first organization data that is still associated with at least one valid credential, the at least one valid credential corresponding to one or more users that are associated with the organization data or an organization that is associated with the data; and a data deletion module configured to receive an indication from the data selection module of the second organization data and delete from the computing device the second organization data.

19 . The computing device as recited in claim 18 , the data selection module being further configured to determine a portion of the second organization data that can be decrypted rat

Assignees

• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Adam Preston Derek
• Teran Adrian F
• Mehta Yogesh A
• Spaith John C
• May Steve Roger

Classifications

• G06F21/6218 Primary

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

• G06F2221/2143

  Clearing memory, e.g. to prevent the data from being stolen · CPC title

• H04L9/3268 Primary

  using certificate validation, registration, distribution or revocation, e.g. certificate revocation list [CRL] · CPC title

• G06Q10/10

  Office automation; Time management · CPC title

• H04L63/0823

  using certificates (cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication involving certificates H04L9/3263) · CPC title