Patent ID: 8190638

Claim:
A method, comprising: generating, using one or more processing units, a permissions cache for a plurality of files, wherein the permissions cache includes a permissions entry for one or more files; receiving, using the one or more processing units, one or more notifications corresponding to a permissions change associated with a searchable file; marking, using the one or more processing units, a permissions entry in the permissions cache associated with the searchable file, wherein the permissions entry is marked as invalid based upon the notification; receiving, using the one or more processing units, a search query for searching through the plurality of files, wherein the search query is associated with a set of permissions; generating, using the one or more processing units, search results using the search query, wherein the search results include all possible matches in the plurality of files without regard to permissions, and wherein the search results include the searchable file; determining, using the one or more processing units, permissions for the searchable file, wherein the determined permissions are retrieved from a file system; updating, using the one or more processing units, the permissions entry in the permissions cache associated with the searchable file using the determined permissions from the file system; generating, using the one or more processing units, an updated permissions cache, wherein the permissions entry associated with the searchable file is marked as valid; filtering, using the one or more processing units, the search results using the updated permissions cache, wherein the filtered search results are consistent with the set of permissions associated with the search query; and displaying, using the one or more processing units, the filtered search results.