Method and apparatus for tokenization of sensitive sets of characters

Abstract

A method and system for secure handling of sensitive sets of characters in a distributed hierarchical system are disclosed, comprising at least one local server on a lower hierarchic level and at least one central server at a higher hierarchic level. The method comprises the steps: receiving a sensitive set of characters in said local server; replacing a part of said sensitive set of characters with a token to form a tokenized set of characters, said token belonging to a subset of possible tokens assigned to the local server by the central server; transferring at least one of said sensitive set of characters and said tokenized set of characters to the central server; and canceling said sensitive set of characters from said local server within a limited time from said transferring, while maintaining said tokenized set of characters in a local database connected to said local server.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for tokenizing sensitive data in a distributed system comprising a local server and a central server, the method comprising:
 receiving, at the local server from the central server, a token table mapping each of a plurality of character strings to a different token;   receiving, at the local server, sensitive data comprising a string of characters;   querying, by the local server, the token table with a subset of the string of characters to identify a token mapped to the subset of the string of characters;   replacing, by the local server, the subset of the string of characters with the identified token to create tokenized data; and   providing the tokenized data to the central server for storage.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the sensitive data comprises one or more of: identification information or financial information. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the sensitive data includes at least one of: a credit card number, a bank account number, a social security number, a driver license number, and a birth certificate number. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 deleting the sensitive data from the local server in response to providing the tokenized data to the central server.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the token table includes a character string mapped to a different token for each possible character combination. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the central server provides a different token table to each of a plurality of local servers. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving, at the local server from the central server, a second token table, the received second token table mapping at least one of the plurality of character strings to a different token than the received token table; and   replacing, by the local server, the received token table with the received second token table.   
     
     
         8 . A system for tokenizing sensitive data, the system comprising:
 a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing executable program code comprising code for:
 receiving, from a central server, a token table mapping each of a plurality of character strings to a different token; 
 receiving sensitive data comprising a string of characters; 
 querying the token table with a subset of the string of characters to identify a token mapped to the subset of the string of characters; 
 replacing the subset of the string of characters with the identified token to create tokenized data; and 
 providing the tokenized data to the central server for storage; and 
   a processor for executing the program code.   
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the sensitive data comprises one or more of: identification information or financial information. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein the sensitive data includes at least one of: a credit card number, a bank account number, a social security number, a driver license number, and a birth certificate number. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the executable program code further comprises code for:
 deleting the sensitive data from the local server in response to providing the tokenized data to the central server.   
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the token table includes a character string mapped to a different token for each possible character combination. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the central server provides a different token table to each of a plurality of systems. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 8 , wherein the executable program code further comprises code for:
 receiving, from the central server, a second token table, the received second token table mapping at least one of the plurality of character strings to a different token than the received token table; and   replacing the received token table with the received second token table.   
     
     
         15 . A method for tokenizing sensitive data in a distributed system comprising a plurality of local server and a central server, the method comprising:
 providing, by the central server to each of the plurality of local servers, a token table mapping each of a plurality of character strings to a different token, each of the plurality of local servers configured to tokenize sensitive data using a token from the token server provided to the local server to form tokenized data;   receiving, by the central server, tokenized data from one or more of the local servers; and   storing, by the central server, received tokenized data.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein providing a token table to each of the plurality of local servers comprising providing a different token table to each local server. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 15 , further comprising:
 periodically replacing, by the central server, each token table provided to a local server with an updated token table.   
     
     
         18 . A system for tokenizing sensitive data, the system comprising:
 a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing executable program code comprising code for:
 providing, to each of a plurality of local servers, a token table mapping each of a plurality of character strings to a different token, each of the plurality of local servers configured to tokenize sensitive data using a token from the token server provided to the local server to form tokenized data; 
 receiving tokenized data from one or more of the local servers; and 
 storing received tokenized data; and 
   a processor for executing the program code.   
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 18 , wherein providing a token table to each of the plurality of local servers comprising providing a different token table to each local server. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 18 , wherein the executable program code further comprises code for:
 periodically replacing each token table provided to a local server with an updated token table.