Patent ID: 8126896

Claim:
An information processing apparatus that communicates with an external apparatus through a network, comprising: a receiving unit adapted to receive electronic data from the external apparatus; a registering unit adapted to perform a registration of attribute information related to the received electronic data, the registration causing the attribute information to be registered as index information in association with the received electronic data in a storage device in the information processing apparatus so that the received electronic data can be retrieved by using the attribute information; a judging unit adapted to judge whether or not the received electronic data is confidential data; and a controlling unit adapted to control said registering unit to perform the registration of the attribute information when the received electronic data is judged by the judging unit not to be confidential data, and not to perform the registration of the attribute information when the received electronic data is judged by the judging unit to be confidential data, wherein said judging unit is adapted to judge that the received electronic data is confidential data when the receiving unit receives the electronic data through IPsec communication, and to judge that the received electronic data is not confidential data when the receiving unit receives the electronic data not through the IPsec communication.