Patent ID: 9514312
Filing Date: 2016-12-06
CPC Classification: G06F

Claim Text:
1. A method for use in data loss prevention comprising: extracting, by a processor, content from a set of one or more data files to be protected by a data loss prevention (DLP) policy designed to detect resemblance or containment relationships between two files even when their contents are not exact matches, wherein the content comprises sensitive data, and wherein the set of one or more data files comprises both sensitive data and non-sensitive data; determining, by the processor, a size of the content; applying, by the processor, a hash function to the content to generate a plurality of hashes; selecting, by the processor, a constrained set of the plurality of hashes to generate a fixed-size fingerprint representative of the content when the size of the content is greater than a threshold size; determining, by the processor, a quantity of hashes based on the size of the content when the size of the content is equal to or less than the threshold size, wherein the quantity is proportional to the size of the content and the determined quantity is less than the quantity of the plurality of hashes; selecting, by the processor, the determined quantity of hashes from the plurality of hashes to generate a limited-size fingerprint representative of the content when the size of the content is equal to or less than the threshold size; and storing the fixed-size fingerprint or the limited-size fingerprint in an endpoint index for at least partial file content matching by an endpoint device, wherein the endpoint index comprises at least one fixed-size fingerprint or limited-size fingerprint corresponding to sensitive data, and wherein the endpoint index may be used for querying fingerprints of other data sources with the fingerprints contained in the endpoint index to determine if the other data sources contain content corresponding to the extracted content.