Systems and methods for tracking sensitive data in a big data environment

A system for automatically securing sensitive data stored by a data management system, comprising:

• a computing device comprising a hardware processor and a memory;
• and
• machine-readable instructions stored in the memory that, when executed by the processor, cause the computing device to at least:
• retrieve a text pattern from a pattern database, the text pattern corresponding to a type of sensitive data;
• compare text in a data item stored by the data management system to the text pattern;
• determine that the text in the data item matches the text pattern;
• determine a restrictive data access permission associated with the type of sensitive data;
• automatically change a data access permission for the data item in the data management system to be the restrictive data access permission in response to determining that the data access permission differs from the restrictive data access permission;
• and
• restrict access to the data item in the data management system based at least in part on the restricted data access permission.

A non-transitory, computer-readable medium comprising machine-readable instructions for automatically securing sensitive data stored by a data management system, wherein the machine-readable instructions, when executed in a hardware processor of a computing device, cause the computing device to at least:

• retrieve a text pattern from a pattern database, the text pattern corresponding to a type of sensitive data;
• compare text in a data item stored by the data management system to the text pattern;
• determine that the text in the data item matches the text pattern;
• determine a restrictive data access permission associated with the type of sensitive data;
• automatically change a data access permission for the data item in the data management system to be the restrictive data access permission in response to determining that the data access permission differs from the restrictive data access permission;
• and
• restrict access to the data item in the data management system based at least in part on the restricted data access permission.