1. A method for evaluating an access right of a user to an encrypted data portion of a secured electronic file, the method comprising: obtaining a system rule set stored separate from the secured electronic file and an access rule set specific to the secured electronic file, wherein the system and access rule sets comprise a plurality of access rules applicable to the user that control access to the secured electronic file in an enterprise environment and that regulate at least a duration of access to the secured electronic file, wherein each access rule includes: a rule type defining whether the rule is an authorization rule or a restriction rule; a right attribute indicating a set of rights controlled by the access rule; a resource attribute indicating a system or set of electronic files on which the access rule operates; and a principal attribute indicating a user or group of users to which the access rule applies, wherein each access rule is obtained based on matching at least one of the right attribute to the access right of the user, the resource attribute to the secured electronic file, and the principal attribute to the user; evaluating the plurality of access rules of the system rule set to determine whether the user is allowed to access a protected system containing the secured electronic file, wherein the evaluation of the plurality of access rules of the system rule set is halted upon determining that the user does not meet evaluation criteria defined by a restriction rule of the plurality of access rules of the system rule set; evaluating the plurality of access rules of the access rule set, in response to determining that the user is allowed to access the protected system, to determine whether the user has a type of access required to access the secured electronic file for the duration, wherein the evaluation of the plurality of access rules of the access rule set is halted upon determining that the user does not meet evaluation criteria defined by a restriction rule of the plurality of access rules of the access rule set; decrypting the encrypted data portion of the secured electronic file in response to determining that the user has permission to access the secured electronic file; and providing the decrypted data portion to the user.