Abstract: A method and a system make EDRM-protected data objects available to users. Access rights to an EDRM-protected data object are produced depending on partial access rights to at least one or more data objects, which data objects are contained in the respective EDRM-protected data object. The access rights to the EDRM-protected data object are calculated by a client computer of the user using an access right differentiation function depending on the partial access rights which are made available by different EDRM servers. A data object key of the EDRM-protected data object is calculated by the client computer of the user using a key differentiation function depending on partial keys which are made available by the different EDRM servers.

Abstract: Virtual machines are used in the utilization of distributed computer infrastructures to be able to distribute the workload to individual computers in as flexible a manner as possible. For this purpose, it is necessary to restrict the use of the virtual machine in a robust manner by regulatory or administrative defaults. A method protects a virtual machine during the migration, storage or operation thereof by way of digital rights management and encryption. For this purpose, the hypervisor or the virtual machine monitor as well as the virtual machine are expanded by corresponding functionalities.

Abstract: A method and device for accessing control data SD according to provided permission information RI, wherein a virtual engine VM is generated according to the provided permission information RI that serves to access the control data SD. As a result, a user can access control data SD solely via the virtual engine VM, thus ensuring that the user does not receive any access permission to the control data SD that are not described in the permission information RI.