IBM Security Software Masks Confidential Info
IBM researchers said today they have developed software that uses optical character recognition and screen scraping to identify and cover up confidential data.
The idea is a user could search for information using encrypted search words, and get encrypted results they could then decrypt on their own. Other potential applications include enabling filters to identify spam, even in encrypted email, or protecting information contained in electronic medical records. The breakthrough might also one day enable computer users to retrieve information from a search engine with more confidentiality, IBM said.
And last year IBM researchers came up with a small device they called "security on a stick" for use in online banking so customers plugging into any computer can protect transactions and find out if Trojan malware is trying to steal funds.
Created in IBM's Zurich Research Lab, the "security on a stick" is still a prototype and being tested in a few trials in Europe, says Michael Baentsch, a senior researcher there. IBM, which unveiled the device today, officially calls it the "Zone Trusted Information Channel" because the little USB-based device works to set up a secure channel to an online banking site supporting it.
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