Providing access control for public and private document fields

1. A method to control access to information, the method comprising:

a computer hardware generating a modified list of search terms by adding first additional search terms to a list of search terms, wherein the first additional terms include synonyms of the search terms and terms that are related to the search terms; the computer hardware removing frequently used words from the modified list of search terms; and

responsive to a determination that a user has authorization to view a first type of field of a first document, the computer hardware adding to the modified list of search terms an encrypted version of a search term included in a list of search terms such that execution of a search using the modified list of search terms returns a result that identifies the first document as a search result when either the unencrypted or the encrypted version of the search term is found in a list of index terms associated with the first document;

the computer hardware determining that a second type of field of a second document has restricted access, based on a second degree of authorization of the user; the computer hardware generating a modified list of index terms by encrypting one or more tokens occurring in the second type of field using a second set of encryption settings; and

the computer hardware executing an indexing step using the modified list of index terms.

2. The method of claim 1 , the method further including:

computer hardware determining whether the first type of field of the first document has restricted access;

the computer hardware generating a modified list of index terms by encrypting tokens occurring in the first type of field using a first set of encryption settings; and

the computer hardware executing an indexing step using the modified list of index terms.

3. The method of claim 2 , the method further including:

the computer hardware determining whether the user has authorization to view the first type of field, based on a first degree of authorization of the user;

the computer hardware generating the modified list of search terms by adding second additional search terms to a list of search terms, based on the first degree of authorization of the user to view the first type of field, wherein the second additional search terms are encrypted search terms created using the first set of encryption settings;

the computer hardware executing a search using the modified list of search terms; and

the computer hardware identifying a search result based, at least in part, on the modified list of search terms.

4. The method of claim 1 , the method further including:

the computer hardware determining, based on the second degree of authorization of the user, that the user is authorized to view the second type of field; and

the computer hardware generating the modified list of search terms by adding third additional search terms to the list of search terms, wherein the third additional search terms are created using the second set of encryption settings.

5. The method of claim 3 , the method further including:

the computer hardware adding to an original list of search terms, a search term in encrypted form that corresponds a user provided search term, thereby generating the modified list of search terms; and

the computer hardware executing the search such that a document is identified as a search result when either an unencrypted or an encrypted version of a given search term is found in the index terms associated with that document.

6. The method of claim 3 , wherein the step of the computer generating a modified list of search terms by adding second additional search terms to the list of search terms, based on the first degree of authorization of the user to view the first type of field includes one or more of the following:

the computer hardware searching for one or more synonyms of a search term included in the list of search terms;

the computer hardware searching for one or more terms that are related to the search term included in the list of search terms; and

the computer hardware generating a modified list of search terms by adding synonyms of the search term, terms that are related to the search term, and the encrypted versions of the search term to the list of search terms.

7. A computer program product to control access to information, the computer program product comprising:

one or more hardware computer-readable storage media and program instructions stored on the one or more computer-readable storage media, the program instructions comprising:

program instructions to generate a modified list of search terms by adding first additional search terms to a list of search terms, wherein the first additional terms include synonyms of the search terms and terms that are related to the search terms; program instructions to remove frequently used words from the modified list of search terms; and

program instructions to respond to a determination that a user has authorization to view a first type of field of a first document by adding to the modified list of search terms an encrypted version of a search term included in a list of search terms such that execution of a search using the modified list of search terms returns a result that identifies the first document as a search result when either the unencrypted or the encrypted version of the search term is found in a list of index terms associated with the first document;

program instructions to determine that a second type of field of a second document has restricted access, based on a second degree of authorization of the user; program instructions to generate a modified list of index terms by encrypting one or more tokens occurring in the second type of field using a second set of encryption settings; and

program instructions to execute an indexing step using the modified list of index terms.

8. The computer program product of claim 7 , the method further including:

program instructions to determine whether the first type of field of the first document has restricted access;

program instructions to generate the modified list of index terms by encrypting tokens occurring in the first type of field using a first set of encryption settings; and

program instructions to execute an indexing step using the modified list of index terms.

9. The computer program product of claim 8 , the program instructions further including:

program instructions to determine whether the user has authorization to view the first type of field, based on a first degree of authorization of the user;

program instructions to generate the modified list of search terms by adding second additional search terms to a list of search terms, based on the first degree of authorization of the user to view the first type of field, wherein the second additional search terms are encrypted search terms created using the first set of encryption settings;

program instructions to execute a search using the modified list of search terms; and

program instructions to identify a search result based, at least in part, on the modified list of search terms.

10. The computer program product of claim 7 , the program instructions further including:

program instructions to determine, based on the second degree of authorization of the user, that the user is authorized to view the second type of field; and

program instructions to generate the modified list of search terms by adding third additional search terms to the list of search terms, wherein the third additional search terms are created using the second set of encryption settings.

11. The computer program product of claim 9 , the program instructions further including:

program instructions to add to an original list of search terms, a search term in encrypted form that corresponds a user provided search term, thereby generating the modified list of search terms; and

program instructions to execute the search such that a document is identified as a search result when either an unencrypted or an encrypted version of a given search term is found in the index terms associated with that document.

12. The computer program product of claim 9 , wherein the program instructions to generate a modified list of search terms by adding second additional search terms to the list of search terms, based on the first degree of authorization of the user to view the first type of field includes one or more of the following:

program instructions to search for one or more synonyms of a search term included in the list of search terms;

program instructions to search for one or more terms that are related to the search term included in the list of search terms; and

program instructions to generate a modified list of search terms by adding synonyms of the search term, terms that are related to the search term, and the encrypted versions of the search term to the list of search terms.

13. A computer system to control access to information, the computer system comprising:

one or more computer processors;

one or more hardware computer readable storage medium;

program instructions stored on the computer readable storage medium for execution by at least one of the one or more processors, the program instructions comprising:

program instructions to generate a modified list of search terms by adding first additional search terms to a list of search terms, wherein the first additional terms include synonyms of the search terms and terms that are related to the search terms; program instructions to remove frequently used words from the modified list of search terms; and

program instructions to respond to a determination that a user has authorization to view a first type of field of a first document by adding to the modified list of search terms an encrypted version of a search term included in a list of search terms such that execution of a search using the modified list of search terms returns a result that identifies the first document as a search result when either the unencrypted or the encrypted version of the search term is found in a list of index terms associated with the first document;

the program instructions further including: program instructions to determine that a second type of field of a second document has restricted access, based on a second degree of authorization of the user; program instructions to generate a modified list of index terms by encrypting one or more tokens occurring in the second type of field using a second set of encryption settings; and

program instructions to execute an indexing step using the modified list of index terms.

14. The computer system of claim 13 , the method further including:

program instructions to determine whether the first type of field of the first document has restricted access;

program instructions to generate the modified list of index terms by encrypting tokens occurring in the first type of field using a first set of encryption settings; and

program instructions to execute an indexing step using the modified list of index terms.

15. The computer system of claim 14 , the program instructions further including:

program instructions to determine whether the user has authorization to view the first type of field, based on a first degree of authorization of the user;

program instructions to generate the modified list of search terms by adding second additional search terms to a list of search terms, based on the first degree of authorization of the user to view the first type of field, wherein the second additional search terms are encrypted search terms created using the first set of encryption settings;

program instructions to execute a search using the modified list of search terms; and

program instructions to identify a search result based, at least in part, on the modified list of search terms.

16. The computer system of claim 13 , the program instructions further including:

program instructions to determine, based on the second degree of authorization of the user, that the user is authorized to view the second type of field; and

program instructions to generate the modified list of search terms by adding third additional search terms to the list of search terms, wherein the third additional search terms are created using the second set of encryption settings.

17. The computer system of claim 15 , the program instructions further including:

program instructions to add to an original list of search terms, a search term in encrypted form that corresponds a user provided search term, thereby generating the modified list of search terms; and

program instructions to execute the search such that a document is identified as a search result when either an unencrypted or an encrypted version of a given search term is found in the index terms associated with that document.