Patent ID: 8463752

Claim:
A computer-implemented method of anonymizing business data, comprising: responsive to a request from an application of a server for data objects stored in a database system, retrieving, by a processor residing on the database system from a rule engine residing on the server, pre-determined rules based on which portions of the data objects are anonymized, wherein the request includes key words to be anonymized, and the rules include a rule of anonymizing contents that match the key words and that have been stored beyond a retention time; comparing, by the processor, the request against the rules to determine first portions of the data objects that are to be anonymized and second portions of the data objects that are not to be anonymized based on the contents that have been stored beyond a retention time; retrieving, by the processor, the second portions of the data objects from a storage of the database system; anonymizing, by the processor, the first portions of the data objects; and transmitting, by the processor, the data object including the first and second portions to the application.