Method and apparatus for securing electronic data

摘要

The present invention relates to techniques for securing electronic data and keeping the electronic data secured at all times. According to one embodiment, a client module in a client machine is configured to provide access control to secured documents that may be located in a local store, another computer machine or somewhere over a data network. The client module includes a document-securing module configured to operate in a path through which a document being accessed is caused to pass so that the document can be examined or detected for the security nature. If the document is secured, the document-securing module obtains a user or group key to decrypt security information in the secured document for access rules therein. If a user accessing the document is determined to have the access privilege to the secured document, a file key is retrieved from the security information and a cipher module is activated to decrypt the encrypted data portion with the file key. Likewise, if a document is to be secured, the cipher module encrypts clear data from the document to create the encrypted data portion. The document-securing module integrates proper or desired security information with the encrypted data portion to produce the secured document. <IMAGE>