This invention improves upon the existing art by implementing encryption at the "font level," thereby, in affect, protecting each independent small portion of a text file or image file. Such a capability offers enormous advantages, including the protection of subparts of a data file from the remainder of the information to be protected, such that a would-be hacker able to decode one of the constructs of the font level would not be able to unscramble the entire text file or image file. In the preferred embodiment, the font encryption system is provided as a plug-in improvement to the existing operating system, thereby facilitating streaming encryption on the fly in a manner which is transparent to the end user. That is to say, in contrast to existing modalities, use of the improved technique would not require deep "hooks" into the computer file system or file-sharing system. Overall, the improvement permits full digital rights management control over each device interface to the font-level encryption capability, allowing operatings such as click and drag, cut and paste, and so forth, to take advantage of the added security while maintaining a streamlined and easy to use user interface.