Patent ID: 7885944

Claim:
A computer-implemented method comprising: storing, in memory, a plurality of classified data patterns for personal identifiers, the plurality of classified data patterns corresponding to variations of personal identifier formats, the personal identifiers including confidential information of a plurality of entities; identifying a text document to be searched; searching the text document for data expressed in a format that matches any of the plurality of classified data patterns corresponding to the variations of personal identifier formats; finding, in the text document, one or more sets of data having the format that matches any of the plurality of classified data patterns, each found set of data representing a possible candidate of a personal identifier; and validating each of the found sets of data from the text document using one or more personal identifier validators to determine whether the found set of data is a personal identifier or a false positive, wherein validating each of the found sets of data from the text document comprises: eliminating false positives based on data immediately preceding or following each of the personal identifier candidates, wherein the data immediately preceding or following a personal identifier candidate indicates a false positive if the personal identifier candidate is immediately preceded, or immediately followed by, a number or a letter.