A layered defense-in-depth knowledge-based data management comprises a reception zone for authenticating a user for access to the system and an operations zone for adjudicating on a user level access to data objects stored in the system database. In addition, the data management comprises a security zone for issuing certificates of accessibility for defined users and a screening zone to interrogate data packets during processing thereof. The first line of defense is firewall protection and packet filtering preceding the reception zone.