Format-Preserving Tokenization for Usable Data Redaction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing data security technologies, such as encryption and vaultless tokenization, are inadequate for protecting sensitive data across various data types and environments, as they either require system changes or have vulnerabilities that can lead to security breaches and compliance issues.
Innovation Solution
The development of format-preserving and self-describing tokens that can be generated and utilized in structured and unstructured data, allowing for secure data protection without requiring system changes and providing a reversible mapping to the original data.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional tokenization is used to protect sensitive data, then security is improved, but data usability and manipulation capability are lost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a tokenization system that acts as an intermediary between the data processing application and the sensitive data. The system replaces sensitive data with tokens that preserve format and allow manipulation, while maintaining a secure mapping to the original data through a data vault. This resolves the contradiction by enabling both security (through token replacement) and usability (through format-preserving tokens that can be manipulated).
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the parameters of the token representation to preserve the format and structure of the original sensitive data. By maintaining parameters such as data type, length, and format patterns, the tokenized data remains usable for processing operations while the underlying security mechanism protects the actual sensitive values. This allows the data to be both secure and adaptable for various processing needs.
2Reliability
If encryption is used to protect sensitive data, then security is improved, but the data becomes mathematically transformable and vulnerable to reverse engineering
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the sensitive data from its original form and replaces it with tokens that have no mathematical relationship to the original values. The actual sensitive data is stored separately in a secure data vault, disconnected from the processing environment. This extraction eliminates the mathematical transformability vulnerability while maintaining security through physical and logical separation of the sensitive data from processing systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates token copies that replicate the format and structure of the original sensitive data without containing the actual sensitive information. These token copies can be freely manipulated and processed without risk of reverse engineering, while the original sensitive data remains protected in the data vault. The copy mechanism enables usability without exposing the original data to mathematical attacks.
3Adaptability or versatility
If format-preserving tokens are used, then data usability is improved, but system complexity increases due to the need for a data vault and token management
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the tokenization functionality with the existing data processing workflow by implementing the tokenization system as an integrated component. The data vault and token management operations are combined with the data processing application, allowing format-preserving tokens to be generated and managed within the existing system architecture. This reduces the perceived complexity by integrating rather than adding separate systems.
4Reliability
If tokens replace sensitive data, then security compliance is improved, but the ability to manipulate and process original data is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the token parameters to match the original sensitive data format, allowing processing operations to proceed without modification. The tokens preserve parameters such as data type, length, and structure, enabling efficient processing while maintaining compliance. This parameter matching allows the system to achieve both security compliance and processing efficiency simultaneously.
Data Source
AI summary
A tokenization system receives a request for redaction of sensitive textual content in a document, identifies a portion of the document as the sensitive textual content, and edits the document, including replacing the sensitive textual content thus identified with tokens, each token having a token value and a pattern that identifies a start and an end of the token value. The editing produces a transformed version of the document with the tokens and without the sensitive textual content. The tokenization system may then communicates the transformed version of the document with the tokens and without the sensitive textual content to the client computing system, an automated recognition service, or a redaction plug-in to a frontend application.