Pattern-less private data detection on data sets

A method for determining a risk that collected telemetry data includes Personal Identifiable Information (PII) data and for preventing further collection of PII data, the method being performed by a computing system and comprising:

• configuring a collection mechanism by coding the collection mechanism to collect data from a device executing the collection mechanism, the collection mechanism being coded to specify when the data is to be collected on the device and being coded to specify which information used by the device is to be included in the data;
• providing the collection mechanism to a plurality of external computing device(s) for execution by the plurality of external computing device(s);
• from each external computing device included in the plurality of external computing device(s), collecting corresponding data from said each external computing device using the collection mechanism;
• combining the corresponding data received from the plurality of external computing device(s) to generate telemetry data;
• organizing the telemetry data based on one or more parameter(s) that describe details regarding how the telemetry data was collected, wherein at least some of the telemetry data is organized into data sets that share a same combination of parameters included among the one or more parameter(s), and wherein each data set includes a corresponding data value such that a plurality of data values are associated with the telemetry data;
• identifying, from among the plurality of data values, one or more data value(s) that are determined to be unique relative to other data values included in the plurality of data values;
• determining a likelihood that the telemetry data includes PII data and assigning a risk index to the telemetry data based on the determined likelihood;
• and
• in response to determining that the risk index of the telemetry data is higher than a risk threshold, change the collection mechanism to prevent further collection of the PII data.

One or more hardware storage device(s) having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that are executable by one or more processor(s) of a computing system to cause the computing system to determine a risk that collected telemetry data includes Personal Identifiable Information (PII) data by causing the computing system to:

• configure a collection mechanism by coding the collection mechanism to collect data from a device executing the collection mechanism, the collection mechanism being coded to specify when the data is to be collected on the device and being coded to specify which information used by the device is to be included in the data;
• provide the collection mechanism to a plurality of external computing device(s) for execution by the plurality of external computing device(s);
• from each external computing device included in the plurality of external computing device(s), collect corresponding data from said each external computing device using the collection mechanism;
• combine the corresponding data received from the plurality of external computing device(s) to generate telemetry data;
• organize the telemetry data based on one or more parameter(s) that describe details regarding how the telemetry data was collected, wherein at least some of the telemetry data is organized into data sets that share a same combination of parameters included among the one or more parameter(s), and wherein each data set includes a corresponding data value such that a plurality of data values are associated with the telemetry data;
• identify, from among the plurality of data values, one or more data value(s) that are determined to be unique relative to other data values included in the plurality of data values;
• determine a likelihood that the telemetry data includes PII data and assign a risk index to the telemetry data based on the determined likelihood;
• and
• in response to determining that the risk index of the telemetry data is higher than a risk threshold, change the collection mechanism to prevent further collection of the PII data.