Patent ID: 8479277

Claim:
An information processing apparatus comprising: a connecting section that is to be connected to an external information processing apparatus; an information storage that stores information; a request accepting section that accepts a predetermined request for the information; a searching section that searches for routers in a communication route of the predetermined request between the external information processing apparatus and the information processing apparatus through the connecting section; a router security level setting section which sets a security level among a plurality of security levels that are used as criteria for determining whether the information is to be made public, for each of the routers in the communication route; a router security level storage that stores the security levels of the routers in the communication route that are set by the route security level setting section, while being correlated to the information; a determining section that, in accordance with a result of the communication route search by the searching section, reads out a security level for each of the routers in the communication route, from the router security level storage, compares the security levels with a preset threshold, determines allowance of the predetermined request if the security levels of all of the routers in the communication route meet the preset threshold, and determines non-allowance of the predetermined request if the security levels of any of the routers in the communication route do not meet the preset threshold; and a process executing section that, in response to the determining section determining allowance of the predetermined request, executes a process corresponding to the predetermined request, on the information, and in response to the determining section determining non-allowance of the predetermined request, does not execute the predetermined request.