Controlling access to information in a distributed data processing system. The distributed data processing system has a server, which stores the information and also further comprises a logging tool for creating a log file. The distributed data processing system also has a client computer comprising an application program for controlling a software agent. When the software agent requests information from the server, a process to identify the software agent is invoked. In response to the identification, all the requests from the identified software agent are stored in the log file and this data in the log file is analyzed. The data is also utilized in the process of monitoring the behavior of the identified software agent. In response to the monitoring process, at least one of a plurality of pre-defined rules is invoked, in order to control the behavior of the identified software agent.