Protecting personally identifiable information (PII) using tagging and persistence of PII

A method for protecting personally identifiable information of entities, the method comprising:

• storing records in a client database, the records including personally identifiable information associated with entities and a client identifier reference associated with each of the entities, the personally identifiable information accessible based on an authorization level associated with a user;
• receiving a document containing both non-personal data and personally identifiable information of one or more entities, the personally identifiable information of the one or more entities including at least one selected from the group consisting of audio data and image data;
• parsing the document to determine the presence of personally identifiable information included in the document;
• determining, based on the records stored in the client database, one of the entities associated with the personally identifiable information included in the document;
• substituting the personally identifiable information included in the document with a client identifier reference stored in the client database corresponding to the one of the entities;
• generating a human-legible view of the document containing the client identifier reference;
• in response to a first personally identifiable information matching only one record in the client database, removing the first personally identifiable information from the document and replacing the first personally identifiable information with a first client identifier reference;
• in response to the first personally identifiable information matching more than one record in the client database, provide a selection of matched records from the client database;
• and
• in response to the first personally identifiable information matching none of the records in the client database, updating the client database with a new record and generating a new client identifier reference associated with the first personally identifiable information.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium containing instructions that when executed by one or more electronic processors cause the one or more electronic processors to:

• store records in a client database, each of the records including personally identifiable information associated with at least one of a plurality of individuals and a client identifier reference associated with at least one of the plurality of individuals, the personally identifiable information accessible based on an authorization level associated with a user;
• receive a document containing both non-personal data and personally identifiable information;
• parse the document to determine the presence of personally identifiable information in the document;
• determining, based on the records stored in the client database, one of the plurality of individuals associated with the personally identifiable information included in the document;
• substitute the personally identifiable information included in the document with the client identifier reference stored in the client database corresponding to the one of the plurality of individuals;
• generate a human-legible view of the document containing the client identifier reference corresponding to the one of the plurality of individuals;
• in response to a first personally identifiable information matching only one record in the client database, removing the first personally identifiable information from the document and replacing the first personally identifiable information with a first client identifier reference;
• in response to the first personally identifiable information matching more than one record in the client database, provide a selection of matched records from the client database;
• and
• in response to the first personally identifiable information matching none of the records in the client database, updating the client database with a new record and generating a new client identifier reference associated with the first personally identifiable information.

A computer system for protecting information associated with entities, the computer system comprising:

• an electronic processor configured to
• store a record in a client database, the record including personally identifiable information associated with an entity and a client identifier reference associated with the entity, the personally identifiable information accessible based on an authorization level associated with a user;
• receive a document containing both non-personal data and personally identifiable information;
• parse the document to determine the presence personally identifiable information in the document;
• determine, based on the record stored in the client database, the entity associated with the personally identifiable information included in the document;
• substitute the personally identifiable information included in the document with the client identifier reference stored in the client database corresponding to the entity;
• generate a human-legible view of the document containing the client identifier reference corresponding to the entity;
• in response to a first personally identifiable information matching only one record in the client database, removing the first personally identifiable information from the document and replacing the first personally identifiable information with a first client identifier reference;
• in response to the first personally identifiable information matching more than one record in the client database, provide a selection of matched records from the client database;
• and
• in response to the first personally identifiable information matching none of the records in the client database, updating the client database with a new record and generating a new client identifier reference associated with the first personally identifiable information.