Means for providing protecting for digital assets

A system for providing protection for identified digital assets, the system including: (1) a central control system ( 210 ); (2) a client terminal ( 220 ) able to communicate via a computer network ( 230 ) with the central control system ( 210 ); (3) client software ( 240 ) resident on each client terminal ( 220 ); (4) a master copy of a digital asset ( 250 ) stored on the central control system ( 210 ); (5) an encrypted copy of the digital asset ( 260 ) stored on the client terminal ( 220 ), with an encryption key for the encrypted copy of the digital asset stored on the central control system ( 210 ) and the client terminal ( 220 ); whereby, the client software ( 240 ) resident on the client terminal ( 220 ) controls access by a custodian ( 280 ) to the copy of the digital asset ( 260 ) stored on the client terminal ( 220 ), and the custodian's level of access to the copy of the digital asset ( 260 ) stored on the client terminal ( 220 ) can be altered from the central control system ( 210 ). A method and computer readable medium of instructions are also disclosed.