Abstract: A method and system is disclosed for searching a database resident list or set of lists for user-defined text patterns, identifying a match, reporting information related to the search result, and maintaining the lists to be searched in a mutually updating distributed database with automatic failover. One embodiment of the present invention provides a method of using a computer utility program to maintain a database of sanctioned entities in a plurality of sanction lists where such sanction lists arise, for example, from OFAC, foreign governments, or internally. The computer utility program allows an authorized user to search user-selected text patterns against the sanction lists to identify a sanctioned entity. Further, the computer utility program is network based so that sanction lists may be searched using different hardware configurations worldwide. In addition, because the database is distributed and mutually updating, sanction lists may be dynamically updated globally and are completely redundant.