1. A method of improving performance for a secure search, comprising: defining a universal security tag operable to contain user-defined security attributes; receiving a first user-defined security attribute for a user, along with an attribute value for the first user-defined security attribute; associating the first user-defined security attribute with an attribute identifier; generating a universal value for the universal security tag by combining the attribute identifier with the attribute value; and embedding the universal value in a text index operable to be used to determine whether to allow a user access to a secure source.