Patent ID: 7562232

Claim:
A computer readable storage medium having stored thereon computer program code, that if executed by a processor, causes the processor to access a secured item among a plurality of secured items by a method, the method comprising: obtaining the secured item to be accessed, the secured item having a header portion and a data portion; retrieving a security information pointer from the header portion of the secured item, wherein each of the plurality of secured items has the same security information pointer as the secured item, such that the plurality of secured items share common security information, wherein the security information includes at least an access rule and user privileges; obtaining security information for the secured item using the security information pointer; and permitting access to the secured item to the extent permitted by the security information, wherein the permitting comprises: retrieving a file key from the header portion; decrypting the data portion of the secured item using the file key; retrieving at least one access rule from the security information; and determining whether a requestor is permitted to access the secured item based on the at least one access rule and characteristics of the requestor.