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University of North Georgia (¹ú²ú×ÔÅÄ) faculty member Dr. Murthy Rallapalli is the lead investigator on a cutting-edge data security solution that recently received a patent (Patent No. 12086281).

In one of the most useful opportunities for utilizing the application, the security feature would protect personally identifiable information such as Social Security numbers or bank account numbers by allowing only the original recipient of an email — and no one else — to view that info, even if the email is forwarded.

"This provides the granular level of security for these critical elements," Rallapalli said.

Rallapalli is a visiting professor of practice in cybersecurity at ¹ú²ú×ÔÅÄ.

The patent was approved Sept. 10. Rallapalli submitted the patent application in March 2021 while working alongside co-workers at IBM on the project.

Rallapalli was also a U.S. Fulbright Scholar in 2020.

After working at IBM for 26 years, he served as senior director of product security at Honeywell from 2022-2024 and joined the ¹ú²ú×ÔÅÄ faculty in January.