Patent ID: 8826449

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for data protection comprising: receiving a request at a computer from a user for a data record encrypted with an encryption key and stored in a database comprising at least a plurality of sensitive data records; accessing by the computer a maintained count associated with the encryption key comprising a sum of a number of accessed database data records encrypted with the encryption key by the user and a number of actions performed on the accessed data records by the user; determining if the maintained count exceeds a threshold stored at the computer representing a number of interactions the user is authorized to perform with the accessed data records without connecting the computer to an external access control system; responsive to a determination that the maintained count does not exceed the threshold: providing a result of the requested data record to the user; incrementing the maintained count responsive to providing the result of the requested data record to the user with a value representing each data record included in the result of the requested data record; and further incrementing the maintained count by a number equal to the total number of actions performed by the user on the provided data record; and responsive to a determination that the maintained count exceeds the threshold, prompting the user to connect the computer to the external access control system.