Automated detection and prevention of disclosure of sensitive information via electronic messaging

A computer system comprising:

• a processor set;
• one or more computer-readable storage media;
• and
• program instructions stored on the one or more computer-readable storage media to cause the processor set to perform operations comprising:
• intercepting an electronic message between a sender and a recipient, who both belong to an organization, before the electronic message is viewed by the recipient;
• detecting elements and relations between the elements by applying natural language processing (NLP) to content of the electronic message;
• classifying at least one of the elements as a sensitive element;
• responsive to a detected relation between the sensitive element and another one of the elements, searching a glossary of the organization for a term associated with the another one of the elements;
• mapping the term to a name of a field in a database of the organization;
• generating a database query to retrieve a second instance of the sensitive element from the field in the database, wherein the sensitive element is present in the content of the electronic message;
• attempting to execute the database query, with a username assigned to the recipient of the electronic message, such that the attempted execution is inspected by activity monitoring software associated with the database, the activity monitoring software being configured to detect unauthorized access to data in the database;
• receiving a response to the attempted execution from the activity monitoring software or indicating that the username is unauthorized to access the second instance of the sensitive element in the database;
• and
• responsive to the response indicating that the username is unauthorized to access the sensitive element in the database, performing a security action respective to the electronic message.

A computer program product comprising:

• one or more computer-readable storage media;
• and
• program instructions stored on code the one or more computer-readable storage media to perform operations comprising:
• intercepting an electronic message between a sender and a recipient, who both belong to an organization, before the electronic message is viewed by the recipient;
• detecting elements and relations between the elements by applying natural language processing (NLP) to content of the electronic message;
• classifying at least one of the elements as a sensitive element;
• responsive to a the detected relation between the sensitive element and another one of the elements, searching a glossary of the organization for a term associated with the another one of the elements;
• mapping the term to a name of a field in a database of the organization;
• generating a database query to retrieve a second instance of the sensitive element from the field in the database, wherein the sensitive element is present in the content of the electronic message;
• attempting to execute the database query, with a username assigned to the recipient of the electronic message, such that the attempted execution is inspected by activity monitoring software associated with the database, the activity monitoring software being configured to detect unauthorized access to data in the database;
• receiving a response to the attempted execution from the activity monitoring software indicating that the username is unauthorized to access the second instance of the sensitive element in the database;
• and
• responsive to the response indicating that the username is unauthorized to access the sensitive element in the database, performing a security action respective to the electronic message.