Intelligent secure data manipulation apparatus and method
A data manipulation appliance can be installed or plugged into a computer network between business partners, and can perform many of the difficult and tedious data manipulation operations in a substantially automated manner. Examples of operations that can be performed by an embodiment of the apparatus include, but are not limited to, encryption, authentication, auditing, shaping data to a common intermediate format for exchange between partners, other auditing of data exchanges in transaction logs, filtering data for privacy compliance and risk management, error detection and correction, mapping internal non-standard data elements to external standard code sets, proxy and protocol re-writing, and so on. The appliance can be embedded with various tools to perform these operations, and therefore appears to be “intelligent.”
1. An apparatus, comprising:
a processor;
a memory coupled to the processor, wherein the memory stores program instructions executable by the apparatus to:
receive a set of user instructions for data conversion;
translate the set of user instructions into a set of user-defined rules for data conversion;
secure an authenticated connection between the apparatus and a first computer system;
authorize an access to a second computer system over a private network; and
transform a set of related electronic data from a first format to a second format during transit of the set of related electronic data between the first computer system and the second computer system, including:
receiving the set of related electronic data from the first computer system in the first format;
converting the set of related electronic data from the first format to the second format, including parsing the user-defined rules and structuring the set of related electronic data according to the user-defined rules; and
sending the converted set of related electronic data to the second computer system in the second format.
2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the set of related electronic data includes one or more programs.
3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein, in converting the set of related electronic data from the first format to the second format, the program instructions are further executable by the processor to:
classify elements of the set of related electronic data into standard dictionary terms for electronic data interchange.
4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the program instructions are further executable by the processor to:
audit high and low level portions of the set of related electronic data.
5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the program instructions are further executable by the processor to:
re-format the set of related electronic data to an intermediate format prior to converting the set of related electronic data to the second format.
6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first format comprises a non-web-based format, and wherein the second format comprises a web-based format.
7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the program instructions are further executable by the processor to rewrite a protocol corresponding to the set of related electronic data into a lower packet level protocol.
8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the program instructions are further executable by the processor to:
obtain audit information corresponding to the set of related electronic data to be exchanged and to store the obtain audit information in an audit logs data store; and
provide report information based on the audit information stored in the audit logs data store.
9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first format is an e-mail format.
10. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first protocol is a file system protocol.
11. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the apparatus is a network device configured to couple to a public network, and wherein the network device is configured to perform data-shaping operations on data in motion.
12. A method comprising:
a network device receiving a set of user instructions for data conversion;
the network device translating the set of user instructions into a set of user-defined rules for data conversion;
the network device securing an authenticated connection between the network device and a first computer system;
the network device authorizing an access to a second computer system over a private network;
during transit of a set of related electronic data between the first computer system and the second computer system, the network device converting the set of related electronic data from a first format to a second format, wherein converting the set of related electronic data from the first format to the second format comprises parsing the user-defined rules and structuring the set of related electronic data according to the user-defined rules; and
the network device sending the converted set of related electronic data to the second computer system in the second format.
13. The method of claim 12 , wherein converting the set of related electronic data includes:
classifying elements of the set of related electronic data into standard dictionary terms for electronic data interchange.
14. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
auditing high and low level portions of the set of related electronic data.
15. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
re-formatting the set of related electronic data to an intermediate format prior to converting the set of related electronic data to the second format.
16. The method of claim 12 , wherein the first format comprises a non-web-based format, and wherein the second format comprises a web-based format.
17. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
obtaining audit information corresponding to the set of related electronic data and storing the obtained audit information in an audit logs data store; and
providing report information based on the stored audit information.
18. The method of claim 12 , wherein the network device is configured to perform data-shaping operations on data in motion between a public network and a private network.
19. An article of manufacture, comprising:
a machine-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon that are executable by a device to:
receive a set of user instructions for data conversion;
translate the set of user instructions into a set of user-defined rules for data conversion;
secure an authenticated connection between the device and a first computer system;
authorize an access to a second computer system over a private network;
during transit of a set of related electronic data between the first computer system and the second computer system, convert the set of related electronic data from a first format to a second format, wherein converting the set of related electronic data from the first format to the second format comprises parsing the user-defined rules and structuring the set of related electronic data according to user-defined rules; and
send the converted set of related electronic data to the second computer system in the second format.
20. The article of manufacture of claim 19 , wherein converting the set of related electronic data includes:
classifying elements of the set of related electronic data into standard dictionary terms for electronic data interchange.
21. The article of manufacture of claim 19 , wherein the machine-readable medium further includes instructions stored thereon to:
audit high and low level portions of the set of related electronic data.
22. The article of manufacture of claim 19 , wherein the first format comprises a non-web-based format, and wherein the second format comprises a web-based format.
23. The article of manufacture of claim 19 , wherein the machine-readable medium further includes instructions stored thereon to:
obtain audit information corresponding to the set of related electronic data and store the obtained audit information; and
provide report information based on the stored audit information.
24. The article of manufacture of claim 19 , wherein the machine-readable medium further includes instructions stored thereon to:
perform data-shaping operations on data in motion between a public network and a private network.