Word Passwords bypassed by Open Office

[lea]

This was discovered by one of the end users in my work place. Password
protected word and excel files can be opened up using suns open office a free
download. I couldnt believe it but when she showed me she could open the doc
edit and save them without once being asked for a password i was shocked, we
have now had to implement a more robust security protection, just a heads up
to those of you who are still using office passwords....
If anyone has any suggestions on how to reinforce the passwords that would
be cool...

 

[Beth Melton]

I suspect the password was implemented using Tools/Protect Document.
This type of document protection isn't intended for security. It's
utilized for document collaboration.

It's a known fact that one can create a new document and use
Insert/File and insert the contents of a document protected using
Tools/Protect document to gain access to the file.

Now, saving the document with a password that must entered prior to
opening a document is a security feature.

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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/