Process using one-way hashing function for secure collection, presentation and storage of PII

Abstract

The present disclosure describes systems and methods for the secure collection, storage and presentation of sensitive personally identifiable information. The method includes a data transformation process centrally administered by a trusted third-party that utilizes a one-way hash function to transform the personally identifiable information into a hash digest—an unintelligible string of random digits and characters—at the point and time of collection for storage and subsequent reference, essentially replacing sensitive personal data with hash digests as representative tokens of the original information without revealing the true values. A one-way hash function reliably produces the same hash digest output given the same input. Once captured and stored the hash digest linked to the individual can serve as the functional equivalent of the original personally identifiable information, able to uniquely identify the individual with whom it is associated without revealing the true plaintext values of their personally identifiable information.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.