US Patent 10185836 Format preserving encryption

Encrypting data without losing their format is important in computing systems, because many parties using confidential data rely on systems that require specific formatting for data. Information security depends on the systems and methods used to store and transmit data as well as the keys used to encrypt and decrypt those data. A policy broker is disclosed that maintains keys for clients in confidence, while providing cryptographically secure ciphertext as tokens that the clients may use in their systems as though they were the unencrypted data. Tokens are uniquely constructed for each client by the policy broker based on policies set by a receiving client detailing the formatting needs of their systems. Each client may communicate with other clients via the policy broker with the tokens and will send tokens unique to their system that the policy broker will translate into the tokens of the other party.