Distributed garbage collection system and method

A distributed garbage collection system and method is disclosed that is compatible with local ref-count or full garbage collection and that ensures that no local object's storage is deleted by the local garbage collector unless it is certain that there are no actual or potential remote references to that local object. The disclosed system and method are implemented in the context of a transparent distributed object system in which communications between objects in different processes are enabled by dedicated proxy objects that are linked to corresponding remote objects via a pair of transport objects. Additional proxy holder objects and proxy holder proxies ensure that objects for which third-party object references are passed (i.e., where one object in a first process passes a remote object in a second process a reference to a third object in a third process) are not collected until a direct link is established between the remote object in the second process and the third object in the third object space. As appropriate, secret number table pointers maintained by a local registrar for each object that has been accessed via a third party message are deleted, allowing the objects to be collected when there are no other actual or pending remote references to that object. The transport managers encrypt all inter-process messages so as to provide full capability security within the distributed system. This enables the disclosed garbage collection system and methods to operate under attack from misbehaving participants.