US 12,353,592 B1
Protection of personally identifiable information of users on a computer network
Charles Hung-Ching Cheng, Sunnyvale, CA (US)
Assigned to Trend Micro Incorproated, Tokyo (JP)
Filed by Trend Micro Inc., Tokyo (JP)
Filed on Jul. 29, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/877,555.
Int. Cl. G06F 21/62 (2013.01)
CPC G06F 21/6245 (2013.01) 7 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of protecting personally identifiable information (PII) of users on a computer network, the method comprising:
receiving, by an endpoint computer, a first webpage served by a first website over the Internet;
displaying the first webpage on a display screen of the endpoint computer;
parsing the first webpage to identify a first input field that asks for a PII of a user of the endpoint computer;
retrieving a category of the first website from a website category database that stores categories of websites, wherein the category of the first website is indicative of a function or service provided by the first website;
consulting a mapping database to determine whether to enter in the first input field the PII of the user or a substitute value for the PII of the user based at least on a type of the first input field and the category of the first website, wherein the mapping database stores a mapping of input field types and website categories to corresponding actions that specify predetermined values to be entered into corresponding input fields;
responsive to the mapping database not including an entry for the type of the first input field and the category of the website, asking the user to enter a value for the first input field; and
responsive to the mapping database including the entry for the type of the first input field and the category of the website, automatically entering a substitute value for the PII of the user, instead of the PII of the user, into the first input field in accordance with the entry for the type of the first input field and the category of the website in the mapping database.