Patent ID: 8707039

Claim:
A method for protecting content within a content delivery network (CDN) that delivers content for content originators, the method comprising: receiving a URI specifying a content object; analyzing the URI to determine that the content object is protected with encryption within the CDN; searching for the content object within the CDN; requesting the content object from an origin server when the content object is not, as a result of the search, found to be cached within the CDN; analyzing the URI to look up a key from a plurality of keys stored in a store at a first geographic location within the CDN; retrieving the key for the content object within the CDN; caching the content object in the CDN; and decrypting, at an edge server of the CDN, the encrypted content object or a portion thereof with the key as the content object is passed, at a second geographic location within the CDN, to an end user computer over the Internet unencrypted.