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US 10,735,388 B2Granted
Confining data based on location
AssigneeLenovo (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.
InventorsAmy Leigh Rose, William Laurence Jaeger, Jr., David Burke Stone, Christopher Aaron Whitesock
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
For confining data to particular set of data servers based on a location restriction of the data, systems, apparatus, methods, and program products are disclosed. The apparatus may include a storage device for storing data, a processor, and a memory that stores code executable by the processor. In one embodiment, the processor identifies a location restriction of the data, encrypt. In another embodiment, the processor encrypts the data. In a further embodiment, the processor confines the data to particular set of data servers based on the location restriction.
Claims20
A method comprising:
- identifying, by use of a processor, whether user data stored in a data storage system has a location restriction, wherein the data storage system comprises a plurality of data servers located in a plurality of geographic regions, wherein the location restriction indicates at least one of the plurality of geographic regions where the user data is not be stored, the location restriction indicating a first geographic region where the user data is permitted to be stored;
- encrypting the user data using a location-specific encryption key in response to the user data having a location restriction, the location-specific encryption key being common to a particular set of data servers belonging to the first geographic region and is not distributed outside the particular set of servers;
- associating the user data with a data transfer policy based on the location restriction in response to the user data having a location restriction;
- confining the user data to the particular set of data servers based on the data transfer policy in response to the user data having a location restriction;
- identifying a location property of a data server, the location property indicating a geographic location of the data server;
- comparing the location property to the location restriction of the user data;
- and
- providing the data server with the location-specific encryption key for decrypting the user data based on the comparison.
5 more elements
An apparatus comprising:
- a storage device for storing user data;
- a processor;
- and
- a memory that stores code executable by the processor to:
- identify whether the user data has a location restriction, wherein the location restriction indicates at least one of a plurality of geographic regions where the user data is not be stored, the location restriction indicating a first geographic region where the user data is permitted to be stored;
- encrypt the user data using a location-specific encryption key in response to the user data having a location restriction, wherein the location-specific encryption key is selected based on the first geographic region;
- associate the user data with a particular set of data servers belonging to the first geographic region, in response to the user data having a location restriction, the particular set of data servers selected based on the location restriction;
- share the user data with the particular set of data servers, the set of data servers being provided with the location-specific encryption key for decrypting the user data in response to a location property of a data server matching the location restriction of the user data, wherein the location property of a data server indicates a geographic location of said data server;
- and
- confine the user data to the particular set of data servers in response to the user data having a location restriction, wherein the location-specific encryption key is not distributed outside the particular set of data servers.
7 more elements
A program product comprising a computer readable storage medium that is not a transitory signal and that stores code executable by a processor, the executable code comprising code to:
- determine whether user data stored in a data storage system has a location restriction, wherein the data storage system comprises a plurality of data servers located in a plurality of geographic regions, wherein the location restriction indicates at least one of the plurality of geographic regions where the user data is not be stored, the location restriction indicating a first geographic region where the user data is permitted to be stored;
- encrypt the user data using a location-specific encryption key in response to the user data having the location restriction, wherein the location-specific encryption key is selected based on the location restriction, wherein the location restriction is stored in unencrypted form with the encrypted user data;
- associate the user data with a particular set of data servers belonging to the first geographic region in response to the user data having the location restriction;
- and
- prevent transfer of the user data to a server not belonging to the set of data servers in response to the user data having a location restriction, wherein each data server of the set of data servers holds the location-specific encryption key, wherein the location-specific encryption key is not distributed outside the set of data servers;
- identify a location property of a data server, the location property indicating a geographic location of the data server;
- compare the location property to the location restriction of the user data;
- determine that the data server belongs to the particular set of data servers in response to the location property matching the location restriction;
- and
- provide the data server with an encryption key for decrypting the user data in response to the location property matching the location restriction.
7 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.