JP2002082909A - Information managing device and information managing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To validly protect information which is inhibited from being provided without permission such as personal information, with respect to an information managing device and system for managing and providing information. SOLUTION: This information managing device is provided with an information holding part 11 for holding information, an information providing part 12 for providing information held by the information providing part 11, and an authenticating part 13 for authenticating a person who is authorized to permit the provision of the information held by the information holding part 11. The information providing part 12 provides correct information on the condition that the provision of the information is permitted by the person who is authenticated as the authorized person by the authenticating part 13, and when the condition is not fulfilled, the information providing part 12 provides a false information.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to an information management apparatus and an information management system for managing and providing information, and more particularly to an information management apparatus and an information management system suitable for protecting, managing, and providing personal information.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art At present, the Internet subscription rate is rapidly increasing, and its convenience is attracting attention. However, in general, attention has been paid only to its convenience, and there is little awareness in the international community about the possibility that individuals may be involved in some kind of trouble or accident.

[0003] Further, in electronic commerce using the Internet, there is a risk that personal information is unintentionally shed from a large number of unspecified sexually evil sites by a brute force technique and is abused.

[0004] In the future e-commerce and the like, it is necessary to correctly recognize the possibility of the occurrence of new threats and the vulnerabilities of society. System is needed.

[0005] Further, in a conventional system which emphasizes the transmission and reception of personal information, there is no protection measure such as leakage of personal information.
In personal information data management, if it is placed on a personal computer, security, loss / theft,
Crashes, portability and operation commonality issues arise.

In some cases, computers connected to a network are hacked and reveal valuable information.

[0007]

Under such a social background, it is an important issue how to protect various information including personal information.

In view of the above circumstances, an object of the present invention is to provide an information management apparatus and an information management system capable of effectively protecting information that is prohibited from being provided without permission, such as personal information.

[0009]

An information management apparatus according to the present invention for achieving the above object provides an information holding unit for holding information and, when requested, the information held in the information holding unit. An information providing unit, wherein the information providing unit provides correct information when predetermined predetermined conditions are satisfied, and provides false information when the predetermined conditions are not satisfied. There is a feature.

Here, the information management apparatus of the present invention includes an authentication section for authenticating a person who has an authority to permit provision of the information held in the information holding section, and the information providing section includes the authentication section. It is preferable that correct information be provided on condition that permission of information provision has been obtained from a person who has been authenticated as a person having the authority by the section.

The information management apparatus of the present invention satisfies a predetermined condition, for example, a condition that a person having the authority to give permission to provide information is authenticated and that the person has been given permission to provide information. Only when the correct information is provided, and when the condition is not satisfied, false information is provided instead of not providing any information. If no information is provided, a person who tries to obtain the information illegally will use bad wisdom to break the barrier that keeps the information secret and obtain the information, but will be provided with the information It is extremely difficult to identify whether the provided information is correct information or false information. Therefore, according to the information providing apparatus of the present invention, by providing false information, it is possible to surely protect correct information as a result.

Here, the provided false information may be stored together with the correct information, or may be newly generated at the stage of providing, but it is apparent that the false information is seemingly false information. It is preferable that the information is not something that can be understood just by looking at it, whether it is correct information or false information.

The above "predetermined conditions" need not be the same for all the information to be protected, and the information to be protected is divided into a plurality of groups according to the degree of confidentiality. Alternatively, different “predetermined conditions” may be set for each group. For example, if the information is confidential but the degree is low, it is sufficient to authenticate the input of the password, for example, and if the information is extremely confidential, the identity of the person is authenticated by recognizing the fingerprint, for example. It is his willingness to provide information,
The correct information may be provided only with the recognition of another person that has not been subjected to any coercion.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information management system, comprising: an information holding unit for holding information and a maintenance unit for holding information held by the information holding unit; And a plurality of information management devices including a maintenance unit for performing the information, the maintenance unit encrypts the information, sends the information to another communication device through a communication path, and transmits the information from another information management device via the communication path. Has the function of receiving and decrypting the encrypted information transmitted as such, and using this function, the consistency of the information held in the information holding units of the plurality of information management devices is maintained. The information maintenance is performed in such a manner that at least one of the plurality of information management devices holds the information when a predetermined condition is satisfied. Provide the correct information stored in,
If the predetermined condition is not satisfied, an information providing unit for providing false information is provided.

The information management system according to the present invention includes a plurality of information management devices, and the information is maintained by communication between the information management devices. Even if the information managed by the management device has been destroyed, the managed information can be easily received and restored from another information management device, and the information can be reliably protected and managed. Is performed. Further, in this information management system, communication between a plurality of information management devices is performed in ciphertext,
Leakage of information on the communication path is also prevented. In addition, at least one of the plurality of information management devices constituting the information management system of the present invention has an information providing unit, and the information providing unit is provided only when a predetermined condition is satisfied. It provides correct information and provides false information when requested to provide other information. Therefore, as in the case of the information management apparatus of the present invention, correct information is reliably provided by providing false information. can do.

[0016]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below.

FIG. 1 is an external view showing an example of a computer system in which the information management device of the present invention is realized. The information management apparatus of the present invention is configured by a combination of the hardware of the computer system shown in FIG. 1 and a program operating in the computer system.

The computer system 10 shown in FIG.
Reference numeral 0 denotes a main unit 101 including a CPU, a main storage device, a hard disk, a communication board, and the like; a display unit 102 that displays an image and a character string on a display screen 102 a according to an instruction from the main unit 101; Keyboard 103 for inputting user instructions, display screen 1
The mouse 104 is provided for inputting an instruction corresponding to an icon or the like displayed at the position at the time of specifying an arbitrary position on the 02a.

The main body 101 of the computer system 100 further includes a floppy disk, a C
It has an FD loading port 101a into which a DROM (not shown in FIG. 1; see FIG. 2) is loaded, and a CDROM loading port 101b, and inside these loading ports 101a;
Floppy disk or CDRO loaded from 101b
A floppy disk drive and a CDROM drive, which are accessed by driving the M, are also incorporated. Further, the main body 101 of the computer system 100
Are connected to the communication network 500.

FIG. 2 is a hardware configuration diagram of the computer system shown in FIG.

Here, a central processing unit (CPU) 1
11, RAM 112, hard disk controller 11
3. Floppy disk drive 114, CDROM drive 115, mouse controller 116, keyboard controller 117, display controller 11
8 and a communication board 119, which are interconnected by a bus 110.

Floppy disk driver 114, CD
As described with reference to FIG. 1, the ROM driver 115 is loaded with the floppy disk 610 and the CDROM 620, and the loaded floppy disk 610 and the CDR.
The OM 620 is accessed.

The hard disk 12 accessed by the hard disk controller 113
0, the mouse 104 controlled by the mouse controller 116, the keyboard 103 controlled by the keyboard controller 117, and the display controller 118
Are also shown, and a communication network 500 connected via a communication board is also shown.

An information management program is stored in the CDROM 620.
The information management program is read from the CDROM 620 and stored in the hard disk 120 by the hard disk controller 113 via the bus 110.
In actual execution, the information management program in the hard disk 120 is loaded on the RAM 112,
It is executed by the CPU 111.

FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram showing an embodiment of the information management apparatus of the present invention. The information management device shown in FIG. 3 is a computer system 1 shown in FIGS.
00 and an information management system installed from the CDROM 620.

The information management apparatus shown in FIG. 3 includes an information holding unit 11, an information providing unit 12, and an authentication unit 13.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a part of the information held in the information holding unit 11. Here, various types of personal information as shown in FIG. 4 are to be managed, protected, and provided.

The information providing unit 12 includes a communication network 500
In response to the information provision request transmitted via (see FIG. 1), when the conditions described below are satisfied,
The information that matches the request among the information held in the information holding unit 11 is provided to the requester.

The authentication section 13 authenticates a person who has the authority to permit the provision of the information held in the information holding section.

In the present embodiment, the authentication in the authentication section is performed by inputting a password or a password which can be input by operating the keyboard or mouse shown in FIG. 1, for example. The authentication method is not particularly limited. For example, a method using a memory password, a personal identification number, etc. Multimodal authentication technology / real-time authentication technology A method using belongings ID card, smart card, etc. Consideration for privacy protection / revoking biometrics Authentication method using fingerprint, iris, voiceprint, and handwriting verification An authentication method combining one or more of authentication based on appearance, biometrics, tamper resistance of a reading device, and the like may be adopted.

The information providing unit 12 is authenticated by the authentication unit 13 to be a person who has the authority to permit the provision of the information, and the information providing unit 12 is further provided that the person is authorized to provide the information. And provide the correct information,
The information providing unit 12 provides false information when the provision of information is compelled even though the condition is not satisfied. By providing false information, correct information can be more reliably protected than a device that does not provide any information when the conditions are not satisfied.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the operation of the information management device shown in FIG.

When there is a request for providing information via the communication network 500 (see FIG. 1), first, the requested information is information to be protected or is not protected and need not be kept secret. Is determined (step a). If the information is out of the protection target, the information is irrelevant to the present invention, and the process directly proceeds to step d to send out the correct information.

On the other hand, when it is determined in step a that the information is the information to be protected, the process proceeds to step d, in which self-authentication has been completed, that is, the keyboard or mouse of the computer 100 shown in FIG. It is determined whether the individual who owns the personal information to be protected has been authenticated. If it is determined that the self-authentication has not been performed or that the self-authentication has not been correctly performed, the process proceeds to step e, and false information is transmitted. This false information may be created and stored in advance, or may be generated whenever necessary, for example, based on a random number or the like. In addition, it is desirable that the information be indistinguishable from correct information and false information.

If it is determined in step b that the self-authentication has been correctly performed, the process proceeds to step c, and it is determined whether or not the individual who owns the personal information has been permitted to provide information. If the permission is given, the correct information is sent out; if not, false information is sent out.

Here, when information is provided, a stream syntax analysis of the information provision request is performed, and it is determined whether the request is a valid information provision request or an invalid information provision request. When it is determined that the request is a provision request, false information may be transmitted immediately, or the illegal information provision request itself may not be accepted.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a computer network system which is an embodiment of the information management system of the present invention.

FIG. 6 shows a typical example of one server machine 200 and one client machine 30 as computer systems constituting a computer network.
0 are shown and they are connected to each other via the communication network 500. The two computer systems 200 and 300 shown in FIG. 6 include a CPU, a main storage device,
Main unit 2 with built-in hard disk, communication board, etc.
01, 301; display units 202, 302 for displaying images and character strings on display screens 202a, 302a in accordance with instructions from the main units 201, 301;
By designating an arbitrary position on the display screens 202a and 302a and keyboards 203 and 303 for inputting a user's instruction at 0 and 300, an instruction corresponding to the icon or the like displayed at that position at the time of the designation is given. Mice 204 and 304 for inputting are provided.

The computer systems 200 and 30
Further, FD loading ports 201a, 301a into which floppy disks, CD ROMs (not shown in FIG. 1, see FIG. 2) are loaded, and a CD
It has ROM loading ports 201b, 301b, and has therein loading ports 201a, 201b;
Floppy disk or C loaded from 1a, 301b
A floppy disk drive and a CDROM drive for accessing by driving a DROM are also built-in.
Each of these computer systems 200 and 300 has the same configuration as the computer system 100 shown in FIG. 1, and further detailed description is omitted here.

FIG. 7 is a functional block diagram of an information management system according to an embodiment of the present invention, which is constituted by a computer network system whose appearance is shown in FIG. The information management system shown here is composed of a combination of two computer systems (the server machine 200 and the client machine 300) constituting the computer network system shown in FIG. 6 and an information management program operating on those computer systems. ing.

The two management devices 20 and 30 constituting the information management system 700 shown in FIG. 7 are respectively composed of a server machine 200 and a client machine 300 shown in FIG.
And the information holding units 2 respectively.
1, 31, information providing units 22, 32, authentication units 23, 33,
And maintenance units 24 and 34.
Among these units, the information holding units 21 and 31, the information providing units 22 and 32, and the authentication units 23 and 33 are the information holding unit 11, the information providing unit 12, and the authentication unit 13 of the information management device 10 shown in FIG. Therefore, the duplicate description is omitted here, and the operation of the maintenance units 24 and 34 not shown in FIG. 3 will be described.

Each maintenance unit 2 of the two management devices 20 and 30 constituting the information management system 700 shown in FIG.
Reference numerals 4 and 34 denote information management devices 30 by encrypting information and using other information management devices (for the maintenance unit 24 of the information management device 20, the information management device 30 is another information management device).
For the maintenance unit 34, the information management device 20 is sent to the communication network 500 toward another information management device, and the other information management device (for the information management device 20, the information management device 30 is connected to another information management device). Device,
The information management device 30 has a function of decrypting the encrypted information transmitted from the information management device 20 via the communication network 500 from the other information management device. These encryption and decryption are performed by two information management devices 2
At 0 and 30, a secret key and a public key are generated, respectively. The secret key is stored in its own information management device, the public keys are exchanged with each other, and when transmitting information, the public key received from the other party is used. The received information is encrypted by using its own private key and decrypted. Each maintenance unit 2 of each information management device 20, 30
4 and 34 use the encryption and decryption functions described above to check the consistency of the information stored in the information storage units 21 and 31 of the two information management devices 20 and 30 that constitute the information management system 70. , Ie, typically, the information holding units 21 and 31 of the two information management devices 20 and 30
The information is maintained so that the same recent information is always maintained.

As described above, the information management system 700
(Two in the example shown here) are provided with information holding units 21 and 31 for holding information, respectively, and are constantly maintained by the maintenance units 24 and 34. Since the maintenance is performed so that the consistency of the information held in the information holding units 21 and 31 is maintained, for example, the two information management apparatuses 2
In the case where one of the devices 0 and 30 has failed and the failure has been repaired, but the information held in the information holding unit 21 has been destroyed or lost, the other information management device will Destructed or lost information can be ordered and easily restored.

An information management system 700 shown in FIG.
Have the same functions as the information management apparatus 10 shown in FIG. 3, and when requested to provide information, have been self-authenticated and have their own personal information. It is configured to provide correct information only when permission to provide the information is provided, and to provide false information in other cases, so that the correct information is reliably protected.

The information management system 700 shown in FIG.
The information management unit 20 on the server machine side and the information management unit 30 on the client side both use the information providing units 22 and 32
And an authentication unit 23, 33, and one of the information management devices (for example, the information management device 2 on the server machine side).
0) may be configured to hold information only, do not have a function of providing information by itself, and provide information solely to the information management device 30 on the client machine side.
Alternatively, the server machine may be configured to always provide false information.

The information management system shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 is a system of two servers, one server machine and one client machine. The server machine communicates with a plurality of client machines. The management of the information may be performed.

Furthermore, although the server / client system has been described here, the client machine is not limited to a desktop personal computer type machine, but may be a portable terminal device.
A mobile phone or the like may be used, and it is not limited to a specific type of machine.

The above description has been made mainly with the handling of personal information in mind, and the present invention provides protection of personal information,
Although the present invention has a configuration suitable for management and information provision, the present invention is not limited to a device or a system that handles personal information, and can be widely applied to a case of handling secret information.

[0049]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Correct information can be reliably protected.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an external view showing an example of a computer system in which an information management device of the present invention has been realized.

FIG. 2 is a hardware configuration diagram of the computer system shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram illustrating an information management device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a part of information held in an information holding unit.

5 is a flowchart showing an operation of the information management device shown in FIG.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a computer network system which is an embodiment of the information management system of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a functional block diagram of an information management system as one embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10, 20, 30 Information management device 11, 21, 31 Information holding unit 12, 22, 32 Information providing unit 13, 23, 33 Authentication unit 24, 34 Maintenance unit 100 Computer system 200 Server machine 300 Client machine 500 Communication network 700 Information Management system

Claims (3)

[Claims] An information holding unit for holding information; and an information providing unit for providing the information held by the information holding unit in response to a request, wherein the information providing unit is a predetermined information providing unit. An information management device for providing correct information when a predetermined condition is satisfied, and providing false information when the predetermined condition is not satisfied. 2. An authentication unit for authenticating a person having an authority to permit provision of information held in the information holding unit, wherein the information providing unit is a person having the authority by the authentication unit. 2. The information management device according to claim 1, wherein correct information is provided on condition that permission of information provision is given from a person who has been authenticated. 3. A plurality of information management units each comprising an information holding unit for holding information and a maintenance unit for maintaining information held in the information holding unit, the information holding unit being connected to each other via a communication path. Device, the maintenance unit encrypts the information and sends it to the communication path toward another information management apparatus, and the encrypted information transmitted from the other information management apparatus via the communication path is encrypted. A device having a function of receiving and decoding information and performing maintenance of the information using the function so that the information held in the information holding units of the plurality of information management devices is kept consistent. When at least one of the plurality of information management devices satisfies a predetermined condition, the information management device provides the correct information held in the information holding unit. And, information management system, characterized in that if said predetermined condition is not satisfied is obtained an information providing unit for providing false information.