US Patent 11790106 Methods for protecting data

Systems and methods utilized to protect data. One method includes maintaining, by a first processing circuit in a production database of a production environment system, ciphertext data associated with a cryptographic function, wherein the production environment system corresponds to a first access level. The method further includes masking, by a second processing circuit in a middle environment system, the ciphertext data using a masking function to generate alternate ciphertext data, wherein the middle environment system is a proxy and communicably coupled with the production environment system over a secure network. The method further includes decrypting, by the second processing circuit in the middle environment system, the alternate ciphertext data utilizing a symmetric key to generate masked cleartext data, and storing, by the second processing circuit in a lower environment system, the masked cleartext data in a lower database, wherein the lower environment system correspond to a second access level.