Systems and methods for identifying personal identifiers in content

A method for identifying a personal identifier in content, the method comprising:

• receiving, by an entity engine executable on one or more processors, first content to identify one or more candidate personal identifiers;
• comparing, by the entity engine, a text string in the first content and a first data format specified in a first entity definition of the plurality of entity definitions, the first data format corresponding to a first type of personal identifier from the plurality of types of personal identifiers;
• determining, by the entity engine, a distance between the text string and the first data format;
• determining, by the entity engine, a score based on the distance between the text string and the first data format, wherein the score increases as the distance between the text string and the first data format decreases;
• determining, by the entity engine, that the text string in the first content matches the first data format based on the score, each entity definition specifying a corresponding data format for finding a respective type of personal identifier in content, and a rule, the rule specifying:
• (i) a corresponding level of correlation for at least one of a respective geographic or linguistic term in the content with the respective type of personal identifier for the corresponding data format, wherein the corresponding level of correlation comprises a numerical multiplicative weight representative of the correlation between the respective type of personal identifier and the at least one of the respective geographic or linguistic term, and
• (ii) a corresponding threshold level at which the corresponding level of correlation is to satisfy for the data format to be classified as the respective type of personal identifier,
• wherein the first data format corresponds to a first type of personal identifier from a plurality of types of personal identifiers;
• identifying, by the entity engine, a first level of correlation specified by a first rule of the first entity definition for at least one of a geographic or linguistic term in the first content with the first type of personal identifier;
• identifying, by the entity engine, a first threshold level specified by the first rule of the first entity definition corresponding to the first type of personal identifier;
• determining, by the entity engine, that the first level of correlation satisfies the first threshold level specified by the first rule for the first type of personal identifier;
• and
• classifying, by the entity engine responsive to the determination and the identification, the text string as the first type of personal identifier for preventing data breach or exfiltration.