Systems and methods are described for securely and efficiently processing electronic content. In one embodiment, a first application running on a first computing system establishes a secure channel with a second computing system, the secure channel being secured by one or more cryptographic session keys. The first application obtains a license from the second computing system via the secure channel, the license being encrypted using at least one of the one or more cryptographic session keys, the license comprising a content decryption key, the content decryption key being further encrypted using at least one of the one or more cryptographic session keys or one or more keys derived therefrom. The first application invokes a second application to decrypt the license using at least one of the one or more cryptographic session keys, and further invokes the second application to decrypt the content decryption key using at least one of the one or more cryptographic session keys or one or more keys derived therefrom, and to decrypt a piece of content using the content decryption key. The first application then provides access to the decrypted piece of content in accordance with the license.