Identifying, marking and erasing sensitive information in screen captures for data loss prevention

At least one non-transitory computer readable-storage medium for protecting data displayed on a screen against loss, the at least one non-transitory computer readable-storage medium storing computer executable instructions that, when loaded into computer memory and executed by at least one processor of a computing device, cause the computing device to perform the following steps:

• defining an original protection region in a bitmap, the defined original protection region comprising a section of the bitmap containing sensitive information;
• embedding a protection marker identifying the original protection region into the bitmap, before the bitmap is copied to a screen buffer by an application;
• dividing the defined original protection region into a plurality of sub-regions, before the bitmap is copied to the screen buffer by the application;
• embedding a separate sub-region protection marker in each sub-region of the original protection region, before the bitmap is copied to the screen buffer by the application;
• parsing captured content that was displayed on the screen after the bitmap was copied to the screen buffer;
• detecting one or more unobscured sub-region protection markers embedded in the captured content;
• calculating a real protection region in the captured content, based on information in the detected one or more unobscured sub-region protection markers;
• and
• erasing the real protection region in the captured content.

A computer system for protecting data displayed on a screen against loss, the computer system comprising:

• at least one processor;
• system memory configured to store a screen buffer;
• a region defining module residing in the system memory, the region defining module being programmed to define an original protection region in a bitmap, the defined original protection region comprising a section of the bitmap containing sensitive information;
• a region dividing module residing in the system memory, the region dividing module being programmed to divide the defined original protection region into a plurality of sub-regions, before the bitmap is copied to the screen buffer by an application;
• a marker embedding module residing in the system memory, the marker embedding module being programmed to embed a protection marker identifying the original protection region into the bitmap, and to embed a separate sub-region protection marker in each sub-region of the original protection region, before the bitmap is copied to the screen buffer by the application;
• a parsing module residing in the system memory, the parsing module being programmed to parse captured content that was displayed on the screen after the bitmap was copied to the screen buffer;
• a marker detecting module residing in the system memory, the marker detecting module being programmed to detect one or more unobscured sub-region protection markers embedded in the captured content;
• a calculating module residing in the system memory, the calculating module being programmed to calculate a real protection region in the captured content, based on information in the detected one or more unobscured sub-region protection markers;
• and
• a sensitive content erasing module residing in the system memory, the sensitive content erasing module being programmed to erase the real protection region in the captured content.