Patent ID: 7921289

Claim:
A layered defense-in-depth knowledge-based management system, comprising: a reception zone including a first one or more computers operable to authenticate a user for access to the system, wherein the reception zone is further operable to: determine a clearance level of a requested document; determine a clearance level of the authenticated user; compare the clearance level of the document with the clearance level of the authenticated user; determine a number of document caveats associated with the requested document; for each of the number of document caveats, obtain the respective document caveat for the requested document, the respective document caveat representing a necessary condition for access to the document; determine a number of user caveats of the authenticated user; for each of the number of user caveats, obtain the respective user caveat representing a condition necessary for the authenticated user to have access to a document having an associated document caveat; for all combinations of the user caveats and the document caveats, compare the document caveat of the requested document to the user caveat of the authenticated user, wherein the comparison of the document caveat of the requested document to the user caveat of the authenticated user comprises a comparison of the necessary condition for access to the document and the condition necessary for the authenticated user to have access to the document having the associated document caveat; and display the requested document to the authenticated user in response to the clearance level of the user dominating the clearance level of the requested document and the comparison of all combinations of the user caveats to the document caveats; an operations zone including a second one or more computers operable to adjudicate on a user level access to data objects stored in a system database; a security zone including a third one or more computers operable to issue certificates of accessibility for defined users; and wherein the system prevents any modification of the clearance level and the document caveats after the clearance level and the document caveats have been associated with the requested document.