Patent ID: 8738905

Claim:
A method for providing third party secured memory storage on a host computer, the host computer comprising a main memory and a third party secured memory, the method comprising: allowing access to information stored on the main memory by hosting company personnel, the information stored on the main memory comprising an operating system and middleware; storing third party information on the third party secured memory; encrypting the third party information stored on the third party secured memory upon access by a user, the encrypting being via a security key, the encrypting providing third party secured storage on the host computer so as to prevent access to the third party information by the hosting company personnel, the security key being held at a customer location, the customer location being remote from a location of the host computer; enabling unencrypted access to the third party information only to users having the security key; and, encrypting the third party information at a human-machine interface; enabling configuration of a service to execute on the host computer; allowing a customer to indicate a desire to have some or all of its information hosted within the third party secured storage, the information being hosted within the third party secured storage being charged at a premium when compared to information not hosted within the third party secured storage; and, enabling generation of the security key by a customer when configuring the service to execute on the host computer; and wherein the third party information is accessed by applications interacting with the host computer; the applications accessing the third party information do not need to use the security key to access the third party information; and, the third party secured storage enabling hosting company personnel to have access to the host computer for debugging purposes while protecting any sensitive customer data from access by any unauthorized individual.