FIELD

The present disclosure relates to privacy control in release of protected information, specifically the use of a blockchain and a centralized key engine for the fast and efficient distribution of protected data with proper user permissions for compliance with data protection regulations.

BACKGROUND

As more and more information about individuals can be found on the Internet, many individuals have started to place a greater focus on their individual privacy. In some cases, the push towards individual data protection has become so great that governments and other regulatory bodies have passed regulations, laws, and other rules that serve to protected an individual's data. Such regulations often limit the ability for an entity to collect such data, enforce how such data can or must be stored, set requirements for enabling an individual to control access to such data, and specify penalties for violation of the regulations. The results are systems that require significant changes and improvements in an entity's systems, but result in stronger and more controlled data protection for individuals.

However, these changes and improvements necessitated by these systems to comply with regulations can be extremely difficult, time consuming, and costly to implement. In addition, many entities, such as small businesses, may lack the sophistication and expertise to implement a system that complies with all regulations. In these cases, such entities often rely on third parties to store and manage user data. However, these entities are then at the mercy of third parties, many of whom may not be trusted by individuals and thus result in loss of a customer base, and therefore revenue. Thus, there is a need for a technical system where protected data can be stored safely and securely to provide for privacy control for individuals while requiring minimal interaction by a requesting system.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure provides a description of systems and methods for privacy control in release of protected information. Such systems involve three distinct components: a key engine, a decryption system, and the system of the entity that is requesting user data, referred to herein as a requesting system. A blockchain is used to store protected user data, where the data stored in the blockchain is encrypted by a key unique to the respective user. When a requesting system requests user data, the user gives permission to the key engine to release the decryption key that was used to encrypt the user's data on the blockchain. The key engine provides the key to the decryption system, which identifies the encrypted data package on the blockchain and decrypts it. The decrypted user data is then forwarded on to the requesting system. The requesting system thus receives the user data after simply submitting a request, making it easier for a small business or other entity to implement the disclosed system. At the same time, the storage of the user data in a blockchain ensures that the data cannot be tampered with, and that the user data cannot be changed without a new blockchain entry, which necessitates the use of a new decryption key, thereby preventing any unauthorized entity from accessing updated user data. As a result, the methods and systems discussed herein provide for data protection for users that can be compliant with even the strictest of regulations through a system where participation by users and requesting entities involves minimal effort.

A method for privacy control in release of protected information includes: receiving, by a receiver of a second computing system, a data message transmitted by a first computing system, the data message including at least a decryption key included in a specific data pair that includes an account identifier, a payload identifier, and a requester identifier; storing, in a memory of the second computing system, a blockchain comprised of a plurality of blocks, wherein each block includes at least a block header and one or more data values, each data value is comprised of at least a registration identifier and an encrypted data set; executing, by a processing device of the second computing system, a query on the memory of the second computing system to identify a specific data value included in a block of the plurality of blocks where the included registration identifier corresponds to the payload identifier; decrypting, by the processing device of the second computing system, the encrypted data set included in the specific data value to obtain an unencrypted data set using the decryption key received from the first computing system; and transmitting, by a transmitter of the second computing system, at least the unencrypted data set to a third computing system using the requester identifier.

A system for privacy control in release of protected information includes: a receiver of a second computing system configured to receive a data message transmitted by a first computing system, the data message including at least the decryption key included in a specific data pair that includes an account identifier, a payload identifier, and a requester identifier; a memory of the second computing system configured to store a blockchain comprised of a plurality of blocks, wherein each block includes at least a block header and one or more data values, each data value is comprised of at least a registration identifier and an encrypted data set; a processing device of the second computing system configured to execute a query on the memory of the second computing system to identify a specific data value included in a block of the plurality of blocks where the included registration identifier corresponds to the payload identifier, and decrypt the encrypted data set included in the specific data value to obtain an unencrypted data set using the decryption key received from the first computing system; and a transmitter of the second computing system configured to transmit at least the unencrypted data set to a third computing system using the requester identifier.

