Patent ID: 8370648

Claim:
A method to manage encrypted data, comprising: configuring a first portion of a computer storage medium to store encrypted data, the encrypted data being encrypted using a time-based encryption key; configuring a second portion of the storage medium to include metadata identifying the time-based encryption key; storing the time-based encryption key in a location separately from the encrypted data and the metadata other than the storage medium, the location being at least one of a cache and a server; receiving a request to store data as encrypted data; encrypting the data using the time-based encryption key; storing the encrypted data in the first portion of the storage medium; generating the metadata to identify the time-based encryption key; storing the metadata in the second portion of the storage medium; receiving a request to read the encrypted data; accessing the metadata to determine the time-based encryption key; decrypting the encrypted data using the time-based encryption key; receiving a request to delete the encrypted data; determining metadata associated with the encrypted data; determining a time-based encryption key associated with the metadata associated with the encrypted data; and deleting the time-based encryption key associated with the metadata associated with the encrypted data to satisfy the request to delete the encrypted data, wherein the storage medium comprises one of a logical unit, a disk drive and a track storage.