Patent ID: 7272857
Filing Date: 2007-09-18
Classification: H04N

Abstract:
1. A method of preventing identity theft and other wrongful use of information stored in a computer system of an enterprise engaged in recording financial and other confidential information, said method comprising the steps of: (a) providing said computer system including a database having non-image files, said non-image files comprising non-sensitive and sensitive data files, wherein the sensitive data files include sensitive information including customer names, addresses, zip codes, contact information, dates of birth, social security numbers, and financial account numbers of one or more of bank accounts, credit card accounts, and debit card accounts, and wherein there are multiple users authorized by the enterprise to access the system; (b) selecting a special pattern to identify sensitive data files based upon at least one of: (c) measuring the average density of said special patterns in said database in said computer system; (d) multiplying the densities of the special patterns in the database file to produce a product density: (e) identifying special files on said database having product densities greater than a selected threshold product density, the product densities being determined as a result of non-spectral scanning of said database: (f) protecting the special files by moving them to a secure location hidden from all users other than specially authorized users; (g) restricting access to prevent identity theft and other wrongful use of information stored in said special files when the density of the selected pattern in the data file is greater than or equal to the density threshold by at least one of: