Apparatus and method for enabling owner authorized monitored stewardship over protected data in computing devices

摘要

A machine has a network interface circuit to provide connectivity to networked machines. A processor is connected to the network interface circuit. A memory is connected to the processor and the network interface circuit. The memory stores cryptographically protected data, a data access policy and a steward group specifying individuals to administer the data access policy. The memory stores instructions executed by the processor to receive a request to access the cryptographically protected data. Authentication tokens from individuals in the steward group are collected. It is determined that the authentication tokens satisfy the data access policy to establish a data access state. A decrypted version of the cryptographically protected data is supplied to one or more of the networked machines to establish a transaction. The transaction is recorded with a distributed ledger associated with at least a subset of the networked machines.