Named MAGEN (Masking Gateway for Enterprises), the Hebrew word for shield, the proof-of-concept from Big Blue promises to protect sensitive information as it appears on a screen. Aiming the solution at healthcare and financial markets, IBM has filed for at least two U.S. patents on the design, one for unique ways in manipulating images, and another for scrambling words.
IBM creates shield for sensitive data. (IMG:J.Anderson)
MAGEN uses OCR (optical character-recognition) to determine which onscreen fields need to be blanked out or replaced with random values. The hope is that MAGEN might help organizations with privacy law compliance, and lessen the vulnerability of information to theft.
Unlike other solutions, IBM says, MAGEN does not change the software program or the data itself. It filters the information before it ever reaches the PC screen, and does not force companies to create modified copies of electronic records where information is masked, scrambled, or eliminated. If companies had to create and store modified copies, the process would be relatively expensive and slow, as well as take up valuable electronic storage space.
In addition, IBM says that MAGEN's rules can also be easily modified as regulations change, or for different types of users. The solution can be deployed in any environment where screen images are delivered - no matter which operating system, application, or protocols are used.
"MAGEN's screen masking approach eliminates the need to painstakingly tailor 'data masking' solutions to specific environments," says Haim Nelken, Manager Integration Technologies at the IBM's Haifa, Israel Research Lab, where MAGEN was developed. "The bottom line is faster performance, simpler database security, and reduced costs for protecting sensitive data."
Once fully developed, MAGEN can be used by health insurance companies, IBM explained, which outsources customer service and claims processing. In an example of how the process would work, IBM says that MAGEN would allow private medical information and patient records, which contractors cannot have no access to by law, appear on their screens in a secure format, displaying only the information a customer service rep would need. Nothing else, as all the restricted information is hidden.
Moreover, MAGEN can partially hide data, such as for the screens of call center customer service representatives, who only need enough identifying data to access, confirm, or update an account.
MAGEN is the latest in a string of proofs-of-concept developed by IBM Researchers designed to preserve privacy. For instance, IBM Research - India last year created voice recognition technology that automatically detects and muffles the most sensitive portions of recorded conversations, such as those between customer service representatives and clients.
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