Method and system for maintaining privacy and compliance in the use of account reissuance data

A method for linking accounts, comprising:

• storing, in a memory of a first computing device, a plurality of account profiles, wherein each account profile includes data related to a transaction account including at least an account number and account data;
• encrypting, by a processor of the first computing device, the account number included in each account profile of the plurality of account profiles using a method of encryption to obtain an encrypted account number;
• receiving, by a receiver of a second computing device, from the first computing device, the encrypted account number included in individual account profiles of the plurality of account profiles;
• receiving, by the receiver of the second computing device, account linkage data,
• wherein the account linkage data includes (i) a plurality of encrypted account identifiers and (ii) indications of linkages between encrypted account identifiers of the plurality of encrypted account identifiers included in the account linkage data, and
• wherein each encrypted account identifier is encrypted using the method of encryption used by the processor of the first computing device to encrypt account numbers;
• matching, by a processor of the second computing device, at least one of the plurality of encrypted account identifiers included in the received account linkage data to an encrypted account number encrypted by the first computing device;
• and
• identifying, by the processor of the second computing device, one or more account number pairs, wherein each account number pair includes a first account number whose corresponding encrypted account number matches a first encrypted account identifier and a second account number whose corresponding encrypted account number matches a second encrypted account identifier that is indicated as being linked to the first encrypted account identifier.

A system for linking accounts, comprising:

• an account database, of a payment processing server, configured to store a plurality of account profiles, wherein each account profile includes data related to a transaction account including at least an account number and account data;
• a processing device, of the payment processing server, configured to encrypt the account number included in each account profile of the plurality of account profiles using a method of encryption to obtain an encrypted account number;
• and
• a receiving device, of the payment processing server, configured to receive, subsequent to the encryption of account numbers in account profiles, account linkage data,
• wherein the account linkage data (i) includes a plurality of encrypted account identifiers and (ii) indications of linkages between encrypted account identifiers of the plurality of encrypted account identifiers included in the account linkage data,
• wherein each encrypted account identifier is encrypted using the method of encryption used by the processing device of the payment processing server to encrypt account numbers, and
• wherein the processing device is further configured to:
• match each of the encrypted account identifiers included in the received account linkage data to an encrypted account number included in an account profile stored in the account database, and
• update, in the account database of the payment processing server, one or more account profiles to indicate a link to another account profile where the encrypted account number included in the account profile being updated matches an encrypted account identifier that is indicated as being linked to an encrypted account identifier that matches the encrypted account number included in the another account profile.

A system for linking accounts, comprising:

• a first computing device including
• a memory configured to store a plurality of account profiles, wherein each account profile includes data related to a transaction account including at least an account number and account data, and
• a processing device configured to encrypt the account number included in each account profile of the plurality of account profiles using a method of encryption to obtain an encrypted account number;
• and
• a second computing device including
• a receiver configured to receive
• the encrypted account number included in individual account profiles of the plurality of account profiles stored in the memory of the first computing device, and
• account linkage data,
• wherein the account linkage data includes (i) a plurality of encrypted account identifiers and (ii) indications of linkages between encrypted account identifiers of the plurality of encrypted account identifiers included in the account linkage data, and
• wherein each encrypted account identifier is encrypted using the method of encryption used by the processing device of the first computing device to encrypt account numbers, and
• a processor configured to
• match at least one of the plurality of encrypted account identifiers included in the received account linkage data to an encrypted account number encrypted by the first computing device, and
• identify one or more account number pairs, wherein each account number pair includes a first account number whose corresponding encrypted account number matches a first encrypted account identifier and a second account number whose corresponding encrypted account number matches a second encrypted account identifier that is indicated as being linked to the first encrypted account identifier.