Storage communities of interest using cryptographic splitting

A secure data storage network comprising:

• a plurality of client devices;
• a plurality of storage systems arranged to manage a plurality of physical storage devices;
• and
• a secure storage appliance connected to the plurality of client devices and the plurality of storage systems, the secure storage appliance configured to:
• identify a user of a client device from among the plurality of client devices as associated with at least one of a plurality of communities of interest, each community of interest capable of accessing data stored in the secure data storage network and including a plurality of users desiring access to a common set of data, wherein each of the plurality of communities of interest has a set of security rights;
• and
• upon identifying the client device as associated with the user, presenting a virtual disk to the client device, the virtual disk associated with a workgroup key associated with the community of interest and a volume containing the common set of data to the community of interest, the volume including a plurality of shares stored on the plurality of physical storage devices.