System and method to anonymize data transmitted to a destination computing device
A method and system for anonymizing data to be transmitted to a destination computing device is disclosed. Anonymization strategy for data anonymization is provided. Data to be transmitted is received from a user computer. Selective anonymization of the data is performed, based on the anonymization strategy, using an anonymization module. The data includes a plurality of characters. A portion of the anonymized data is selected as a search ID. A cross reference between a search key indicative of a portion of the received data and the corresponding search ID is stored.
1. A method for anonymizing data to be transmitted to a destination computing device, comprising:
receiving data to be transmitted to the destination computing device from a user computer, the data including a plurality of characters;
anonymizing the received data using an anonymization module to derive an anonymized received data;
dividing the received data into a plurality of portions;
selecting a portion of the anonymized received data as a search ID;
storing in a data store, a cross reference between a search key indicative of each of the plurality of portions of the received data and the search ID that corresponds to the associated anonymized received data such that a selective search ID can be retrieved that corresponds to the search key which matches a search request from the user computer for the portion of the received data;
transmitting the anonymized received data to the destination computing device over a network and in response to receiving the search request, retrieving anonymized received data that matches with the selective search ID;
de-anonymizing the retrieved anonymized received data;
comparing the search key with the retrieved de-anonymized data for a match; and
returning the de-anonymized data in response to the search request when there is a match.
2. The method of claim 1 , further including:
providing a search ID field marker to indicate the beginning of the selected portion of the anonymized received data; and
transmitting the search ID field marker along with the anonymized received data to the destination computing device.
3. An anonymization system to anonymize data transmitted to a destination computing device, comprising:
one or more processor devices;
an anonymization strategy module to store anonymization strategy for data anonymization;
a logic to receive data to be transmitted to the destination computing device, from a user computer, the data including a plurality of characters;
an anonymization module to anonymize the received data based on the anonymization strategy to generate anomymized received data;
the received data is divided into a plurality of portions;
a portion of the anonymized received data is selected as a search ID;
a cross reference between a search key indicative of each of the plurality of portions of the received data and the search ID that corresponds to the associated anonymized received data is stored in a data store such that a selective search ID can be retrieved that corresponds to the search key which matches a search request for the portion of the received data;
transmit the anonymized received data to the destination computing device over a network and in response to the received search request, retrieve the anonymized received data that matches with the selective search ID;
de-anonymize retrieved anonymized received data;
compare the search key with the retrieved de-anonymized data for a match; and
return the de-anonymized data in response to the search request when there is a match.
4. The system of claim 3 , further configured to:
provide a search ID field marker to indicate the beginning of the selected portion of the anonymized received data; and
transmit the search ID field marker along with the anonymized received data to the destination computing device.