An example method for managing data in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure includes receiving from a user in the computer network environment a policy about how a piece of data should be treated, an encryption of the piece of data, a signature of a cryptographic hash of the policy and a cryptographic key, requesting from a trust authority the cryptographic key to access the piece of data, transmitting an encryption of at least one share to the trust authority, wherein the at least one share is created by and received from the trust authority, receiving from the trust authority the cryptographic key, wherein the cryptographic key is recreated by a combiner using a subset of the at least one share, shares associated with the trust authority and shares associated with the combiner, and decrypting the encryption of the piece of data using the recreated cryptographic key.