Patent ID: 7631359

Claim:
In an environment that includes a plurality of computer systems that may be used to store a plurality of movable replicas of given data in order to protect against loss of the given data in the event of a concerted attack aimed at locating and destroying it, a method for protecting the given data from destruction by occasionally moving the plurality of movable replicas from one computer system location to another so that the plurality of movable replicas are more difficult to find, the method comprising the following: maintaining a centrally located catalog on a computer system, wherein the computer system on which the centrally located catalog is maintained is a single physical device; maintaining a plurality of movable replicas of given data on a computer network, wherein the plurality of movable replicas of given data are distributed throughout at least a plurality of computer systems in the computer network and which are remote from the single physical device computer system on which the central catalog is maintained, the plurality of movable replicas each being repeatedly moved from its then current location to a new location in the computer network, as directed by the single physical device computer system on which the central catalog is maintained; determining, at a centrally located relocation module on the single physical device computer system on which the central catalog is maintained, a specific target location in the network from among a plurality of potential target locations to which one of the plurality of movable replicas is to be relocated; encrypting the centrally located relocation module to protect it from any unauthorized user so as not to provide information identifying the target location to which the one of the plurality of movable replicas is to be relocated; after determining a specific target location, an act of the single physical device computer system on which the central catalog is maintained, using the centrally located relocation module located thereon, notifying one or more authorized individuals that the one of the plurality of movable replicas will be moved and of the specific target location thereof; after notifying the one or more authorized users that the one of the plurality of movable replicas will be moved and of the specific target location thereof relocating the one of the plurality of movable replicas to the determined specific target location; updating the centrally located catalog on the single physical device computer system, which centrally located catalog contains a current listing of all of the plurality of movable replicas of the given data and target locations to which each of the plurality of movable replicas has been relocated in order to keep track of where each of the plurality of movable replicas is stored once it is newly relocated; and at least partially encrypting the catalog centrally located on the single physical device computer system to secure it against unauthorized access.