A method and an apparatus ensuring protection of digital data are
provided. In addition to re-encrypting the data using an unchangeable
key, the data is double re-encrypted using a changeable key. The
changeable key is used first and the unchangeable key is then used, or in
another case, the unchangeable key is used first, and the changeable key
is then used. In the aspect of embodiments, there is a case adopting a
software, a case adopting a hardware, or a case adopting the software and
the hardware in combination. The hardware using the unchangeable key
developed for digital video is available. In adopting the software,
encryption/decryption is performed in a region below the kernel which
cannot be handled by the user to ensure the security for the program and
for the key used. More concretely, encryption/decryption is performed
with RTOS using a HAL and a device driver, i.e., a filter driver, a disk
driver and a network driver, in an I/O manager. Either one of two filter
drivers, with a file system driver between them, may be used. Further,
both filter drivers may be used.