Capital One‘s 2019 data breach impacted more than 100 million user accounts and credit card applications. Capital One appears to be rectifying this mistake through a number of patent filings, with 10 published patents and patent applications since the start of 2020.

Capital One’s latest issued patent provides insight into their overlay management system for protecting user information. Overlay management refers to a portfolio management style that analyzes and balances an investor’s separately managed accounts. This software typically tracks an investor’s positions, adjusts a portfolio for balance, and prevents inefficient transactions from occurring. However, typical overlay management software opens accounts to increase an investor’s return on investment by taking advantage of a higher introductory interest rate, a sign-up bonus, or another incentive. In opening these accounts, an investor’s personally identifiable information is exposed, increasing the risk of abuse.

How is Capital One addressing this issue? A newly issued patent discusses creating an anonymized token to identify a user’s preferences relating to opening a second account. Once the second account is identified, a number of obfuscation techniques are employed to open the second account anonymously, reducing the likelihood that a user’s information falls into the hands of a malicious actor.