System and method for securing documents prior to transmission

Abstract

A system and method for securing documents transmitted through document sharing systems disclosed. The system and method apply security rules to an electronic document as it is being composed to ensure that the security policies have been expressed prior to the document being transmitted. The security program hooks in to the message object model so that as the message is modified, the security rules are applied to each modification

1 . A method executed by a computer system for securing an electronic document comprised of data stored on the computer system, that is in the state of being modified by a user as a result of the user operating a computer program running on said computer system comprising:
 automatically detecting a change in one of at least one predetermined conditions corresponding to the data representing the electronic document, during the period that the electronic document is in the state of being modified;   in response to the automatic detection of the change of the predetermined condition, applying a security policy rule to the data representing the electronic document while the electronic document remains in the state of being modified, said security policy being selected by the computer system in dependence on which of the at least one of the plurality of predetermined conditions was detected as having been changed.   
     
     
         2 - 30 . (canceled)