Patent ID: 8539597

Claim:
A method for securing sensitive data in a cloud computing environment, said method comprising: associating, by a processor of a computer system, a hashing directive with a record of a customer system, wherein the cloud computing environment comprises a cloud and the customer system, wherein the customer system comprises the computer system, wherein the computer system comprises a database storing the record, and wherein the record comprises at least one data field; said processor obfuscating the record by hashing a respective value of each data field of said at least one data field pursuant to the associated hashing directive, wherein the hashing directive comprises a respective tag classifying said each data field as either a sensitive data field or a transactional data field, and a respective mode of hashing for each sensitive data field of the record; said processor sending the obfuscated record to the cloud, wherein the cloud is configured to process the obfuscated record and to instantiate a cloud process result field of the record with a result value calculated with values of transactional data fields of the record; said processor receiving the processed record having the instantiated result value from the cloud; and said processor reconstituting the record by respectively reversing said obfuscating for said each sensitive data field of the record pursuant to the respective mode of hashing for each sensitive data field in the hashing directive, wherein said obfuscating comprises: selecting a second data field of the record, wherein the hashing directive indicates that the second data field is sensitive by a second tag associated with the second data field; determining that a second mode associated with the second data field is two-way hashing; creating a hash key corresponding to a second value of the second data field; replacing the second value with the created hash key in the second data field such that the second value is not available in the record; and storing, in the database, correlation data corresponding to the second data field, the correlation data comprising metadata used in said creating the hash key and the second value.