A method for securely transferring digital data from a data owner to a data assignee through a third party comprising: receiving (7.2) from the data assignee by a server associated with the third party, a public key of the data assignee; sending, from the server associated with the third party to the data owner, the public key of the data assignee and a public key of the third party; receiving by the server associated with the third party from the data owner: a standard data description record (27.3) describing software tools and environments for data viewing and software execution, the standard data description record comprising file format information corresponding to the digital data and system and application information corresponding to a computing environment necessary to assure proper viewing or execution of the digital data, the standard data description record encrypted with the public key of the third party; a trigger event information (16.5) associated with the data assignee, the trigger event information encrypted with the public key of the third party; and the digital data encrypted with the public key of the data assignee; maintaining, by the server associated with the third party, software applications and environments for proper viewing or execution of the digital data in accordance with the standard data description record; recognizing, by the server associated with the third party, the occurrence of the trigger event associated with the data assignee; and sending, from the server associated with the third party to the data assignee after recognizing the occurrence of the trigger, the digital data encrypted with the public key of the data assignee and the software applications and environments necessary for proper viewing or execution of the digital data. receiving (7.2) from the data assignee by a server associated with the third party, a public key of the data assignee; sending, from the server associated with the third party to the data owner, the public key of the data assignee and a public key of the third party; receiving by the server associated with the third party from the data owner: a standard data description record (27.3) describing software tools and environments for data viewing and software execution, the standard data description record comprising file format information corresponding to the digital data and system and application information corresponding to a computing environment necessary to assure proper viewing or execution of the digital data, the standard data description record encrypted with the public key of the third party; a trigger event information (16.5) associated with the data assignee, the trigger event information encrypted with the public key of the third party; and the digital data encrypted with the public key of the data assignee; maintaining, by the server associated with the third party, software applications and environments for proper viewing or execution of the digital data in accordance with the standard data description record; recognizing, by the server associated with the third party, the occurrence of the trigger event associated with the data assignee; and sending, from the server associated with the third party to the data assignee after recognizing the occurrence of the trigger, the digital data encrypted with the public key of the data assignee and the software applications and environments necessary for proper viewing or execution of the digital data. a standard data description record (27.3) describing software tools and environments for data viewing and software execution, the standard data description record comprising file format information corresponding to the digital data and system and application information corresponding to a computing environment necessary to assure proper viewing or execution of the digital data, the standard data description record encrypted with the public key of the third party; a trigger event information (16.5) associated with the data assignee, the trigger event information encrypted with the public key of the third party; and the digital data encrypted with the public key of the data assignee; maintaining, by the server associated with the third party, software applications and environments for proper viewing or execution of the digital data in accordance with the standard data description record; recognizing, by the server associated with the third party, the occurrence of the trigger event associated with the data assignee; and sending, from the server associated with the third party to the data assignee after recognizing the occurrence of the trigger, the digital data encrypted with the public key of the data assignee and the software applications and environments necessary for proper viewing or execution of the digital data.