Patent ID: 8286254

Claim:
A method for setting access permissions in a computer system, the computer system including a processor and a non-transitory computer readable storage medium including instructions executable by the processor, the method comprising: detecting a query by an application for permission to access a resource; searching a rules database for a rule that is applicable to the query; determining that the rules database contains an applicable rule; determining whether the applicable rule indicates whether the application is permitted to access the resource; responsive to determining that the applicable rule indicates whether the application is permitted to access the resource, granting or denying permission to the application to access the resource based on the applicable rule; and responsive to determining that the applicable rule does not indicate whether the application is permitted to access the resource: determining whether a learning mode is active for the applicable rule, and responsive to determining that a learning mode is active for the applicable rule: providing an automatic response to the query without requiring an input from a user, the automatic response granting or denying, based on a policy, permission to the application to access the resource, and automatically setting, without input from a user, the applicable rule, based on the policy, to indicate that the application is permitted or is not permitted to access the resource, and responsive to a determination that the learning mode is inactive for the applicable rule: obtaining an input from the user, the input indicating whether the application is permitted to access the resource, and providing a response to the query, granting or denying permission to the application to access the resource based on the input.