Method and apparatus for protecting sensitive data

1. An apparatus comprising:

a first processor configured to receive non-voice data from a session border controller;

wherein the first processor is further configured to receive a sensitive-data-alert-message from a second processor disposed at a sensitive data signaling device (SDSD);

wherein the first processor is configured to respond to the sensitive-data-alert-message from the second processor by producing a set of modified-non-voice data by removing a set of sensitive data contained within the non-voice data;

wherein the first processor is configured to send the set of modified-non-voice data to a third processor disposed at a voice processing device (VPD);

wherein the first processor and the second processor are secured in accordance with a sensitive data security standard while the VPD is not secured in accordance with the sensitive data security standard.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the non-voice data is a communication conforming to an SIP protocol.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first processor is configured to send the set of sensitive data removed from the non-voice data to the second processor disposed at the SDSD.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the first processor is configured to encrypt the set of sensitive data before sending the encrypted set of sensitive data to the second processor disposed at the SDSD.

5. A method comprising:

receiving non-voice data at a first processor from a session border controller;

receiving a sensitive-data-alert-message at the first processor from a second processor disposed at a sensitive data signaling device (SDSD);

producing a set of modified-non-voice data at the first processor in response to the sensitive-data-alert-message from the second processor by removing a set of sensitive data contained within the non-voice data;

sending the set of modified-non-voice data from the first processor to a third processor disposed at a voice processing device (VPD);

wherein the first processor and the second processor are secured in accordance with a sensitive data security standard while the VPD is not secured in accordance with the sensitive data security standard.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the non-voice data is a communication conforming to an SIP protocol.

7. The method of claim 5 , and further comprising:

sending the set of sensitive data removed from the non-voice data to the second processor disposed at the SDSD.

8. The method of claim 7 , and further comprising:

encrypting the set of sensitive data before sending the encrypted set of sensitive data to the second processor disposed at the SDSD.

9. A method comprising:

receiving a communication comprising voice data and non-voice data at a first processor;

sending the non-voice data from the first processor to a second processor;

sending the voice data from the first processor to a third processor disposed at a voice processing device (VPD);

receiving a sensitive-data-alert-message at the second processor from the third processor;

in response to the sensitive-data-alert-message from the third processor, producing a set of modified-non-voice data at the second processor by removing a set of sensitive data contained within the non-voice data;

wherein the first processor and the second processor are secured in accordance with a sensitive data security standard while the VPD is not secured in accordance with the sensitive data security standard.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the first processor is disposed at a session border controller.

11. The method of claim 9 , and further comprising:

sending the set of modified-non-voice data from the second processor to the third processor.

12. The method of claim 9 , wherein the communication comprising non-voice data is a communication conforming to an SIP protocol.

13. The method of claim 9 , and further comprising:

sending the set of sensitive data from second processor to a tokenization server.

14. The method of claim 9 , and further comprising:

sending the set of sensitive data removed from the non-voice data to a payment processing gateway.