Method and system for providing security in a data federation system

A system for controlling access to data stored in a plurality of autonomous data sources, comprising:

• a communications module that receives a federated query including a plurality of source queries and receives a request to submit a source query of the plurality of source queries to a target data source, wherein each source query of the plurality of source queries is specific to an autonomous data source belonging to a federation, wherein the request is from a request controller, and the target data source is specific to the source query;
• an analyzer that determines whether the request matches at least one rule stored in a rules database, wherein a rule that includes a given query matches a request that includes the given query;
• and
• an instructor that when it is determined that the request does not match a rule stored in the rules database, sends a communication to the request controller to cause the request controller to (i) submit the source query to the data source, and (ii) mask an initial result of the source query, wherein the initial result of the source query has the same structure as the masked result of the source query.

A machine-readable medium comprising a plurality of machine-readable instructions that when executed by one or more processors is adapted to cause the one or more processors to perform a method comprising:

• receiving a federated query including a plurality of source queries, each source query of the plurality of source queries being specific to an autonomous data source belonging to a federation;
• receiving a request to submit a source query of the plurality of source queries to a target data source, the request being from a request controller, and the target data source being specific to the source query;
• determining whether the request matches at least one rule stored in a rules database, wherein a rule that includes a given query matches a request that includes the given query;
• and
• when it is determined that the request does not match a rule stored in the rules database, sending a communication to the request controller to cause the request controller to (i) submit the source query to the data source, and (ii) mask an initial result of the source query, the initial result of the source query having the same structure as the masked result of the source query.