Document Redaction System with Semi-Transparent Indicators
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for redacting sensitive data in documents lack reliability and fail to provide a comprehensive audit trail, making it difficult for organizations to ensure compliance with regulations and protect sensitive information from unauthorized disclosure.
Innovation Solution
A computer-implemented system that converts documents to a common format, identifies and redacts sensitive data using semi-opaque indicators, and generates an audit report detailing the redaction process, ensuring accurate and compliant data protection.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If manual redaction methods are used, then flexibility in redaction process is maintained, but reliability and audit trail completeness deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary computer system that acts as a mediator between the manual redaction process and the final redacted output. This system automatically generates audit trails, tracks redaction actions, and provides approval workflows without replacing the manual redaction capability, thus improving reliability while maintaining operational flexibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback mechanisms through audit trails that record all redaction actions, approvals, and modifications. This feedback loop ensures accountability and allows organizations to verify redaction compliance, thereby improving reliability of the redaction process.
2Productivity
If automated redaction using search terms is used, then processing speed is improved, but accuracy and reliability of redaction deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by automatically identifying potential redaction candidates using search terms and patterns before final redaction. These candidates are then presented for manual review and approval, combining the speed of automated identification with the accuracy of human judgment.
Solution Approach 2:
The audit trail system provides feedback on all automated redaction actions, allowing verification and correction of accuracy issues. This feedback mechanism ensures that while automated processing increases speed, reliability is maintained through review and approval workflows.
3Reliability
If manual audit trail construction is performed, then compliance with audit requirements can be achieved, but time consumption and processing efficiency deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements self-service functionality by automatically generating comprehensive audit trails that record all redaction actions, approvals, and modifications. This eliminates the need for manual audit trail construction, providing complete audit compliance instantaneously without additional time consumption.
Solution Approach 2:
The audit trail is constructed preliminarily and continuously throughout the redaction process, rather than being created afterward. This ensures complete audit compliance is achieved automatically as part of the redaction workflow, eliminating separate audit trail construction time.
4Reliability
If sensitive data is transmitted without redaction, then processing speed is maintained, but data security and compliance deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts sensitive data from documents through automated identification and redaction processes. By removing sensitive information before transmission, the system maintains data security while allowing the rest of the document to be transmitted efficiently, thus protecting security without significantly impacting overall transmission productivity.
Data Source
AI summary
A computer-implemented system and method for facilitating document information security is provided. A request for documents is received and documents of different formats that satisfy the request are obtained from one or more sources. Source information is extracted from each obtained document. Each obtained document is converted to a common format and the source information is embedded within the common format for that document. At least a portion of text having sensitive data is identified within one or more of the obtained documents. The sensitive data is redacted by highlighting the text portion with a semi-transparent indicator. The highlighted text portion is obfuscated upon approval of the redacted sensitive data by changing the semi-transparent indicator to an opaque indicator. The redaction information is overlayed on the opaque indicator and the obtained documents are provided in response to the request.