Patent ID: 8918867

Claim:
A method for control of sensitive data in a computer system that includes at least one central server communicatively-coupled to a plurality of client computers, the method comprising: executing a first set of software code on the at least one central server, the first set of software code causing the at least one central server to provide configuration data to each of the plurality of client computers, the configuration data including parameters that define criteria for identifying sensitive data and trigger events on the client computers; in response to a notification received from one of the plurality of client computers, monitor data communications of the one of the plurality of client computers for sensitive data by reviewing data communications indicated by the notification; and restrict transmission for a subset of the reviewed data communications in response to detecting sensitive data; and executing a second set of software code on each of the plurality of client computers, the second set of software code causing each of the plurality of client computers to identify other applications, running on the client computer, that access sensitive data matching the criteria indicated by the configuration data; monitor actions of the other applications identified as accessing sensitive data; determine whether or not one of the trigger events, defined by the configuration data, has occurred as a function of a sensitivity level of the sensitive data and the monitored actions; and transmit, in response to determining that the trigger event has occurred, the notification to the central server, wherein the parameters of the configuration data identify a data file as sensitive based on location of the data file and access permission of the data file.