Patent ID: 8555080

Claim:
A computer implemented method for protecting an organization's secure information from unauthorized disclosure, the computer implemented method comprising: implementing a first protect agent at a first egress point, wherein the first protect agent receives input information for transmission outside of the organization, and wherein the input information is transmitted outside of the organization through the first egress point; comparing a first set of client fingerprints associated with the input information received by the first protect agent against a lightweight fingerprint database, wherein registered fingerprints are generated from the organization's secure information, each fingerprint of the registered fingerprints and of the first set of client fingerprints representing a specific piece of secure data, and further wherein the lightweight fingerprint database stores lightweight fingerprints generated from registered fingerprints using a fingerprint compression; maintaining the registered fingerprints in a registered fingerprint server; upon detecting one or more positives during the comparison, and the first protect agent is able to communicate with the registered fingerprint server, transmitting information about the positives to the registered fingerprint server, and in response the registered fingerprint server provides to the first protect agent overhead information corresponding to the positives, wherein the overhead information includes information for eliminating false positives detected during the comparison; and upon detecting one or more positives during the comparison, and the first protect agent is unable to communicate with the registered fingerprint server, performing a security action by the first protect agent, wherein performance of the security action safeguards the organization against unauthorized disclosure of the input information.