Techniques are disclosed for tracking locations of data objects in a computing network. In one example, a method comprises the following steps. Contextual data is received. The contextual data is associated with a given data object and transmitted from one or more computing devices. The one or more computing devices created the given data object and/or accessed the given data object. At least a portion of the received contextual data is used to track one or more locations of the given data object. A chain of custody report and/or a provenance report may be generated from the one or more tracked locations of the given data object. Also, a policy can be applied.