Re: Digital signature

From: Brendan Reynolds (brenreyn)
Date: 10/04/04

  • Next message: Paul Sanguinetti: "Re: Digital signature" 
    Date: Mon, 4 Oct 2004 12:46:18 +0100

    Applications developed in Access 2000 and Access 2002 will display the
    warning when opened in Access 2003 if the user has set their 'macro'
    security level to Medium. Applications will fail to open in Access 2003 if
    the user has set their 'macro' security level to High. Only if the user has
    set 'macro' security to Low will unsigned apps run without warning messages. 

    -- 
Brendan Reynolds (MVP)
http://brenreyn.blogspot.com
The spammers and script-kiddies have succeeded in making it impossible for
me to use a real e-mail address in public newsgroups. E-mail replies to
this post will be deleted without being read. Any e-mail claiming to be
from brenreyn at indigo dot ie that is not digitally signed by me with a
GlobalSign digital certificate is a forgery and should be deleted without
being read. Follow-up questions should in general be posted to the
newsgroup, but if you have a good reason to send me e-mail, you'll find
a useable e-mail address at the URL above.
"Paul Sanguinetti" <PaulSanguinetti@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in 
message news:946773B3-727F-4CB7-B650-D48291B789A9@microsoft.com...
> Thanks for responding Brendan. The problem occured because I developed the 
> ap
> on my machine using Access 2002 (xp), but it was running on the client's
> server using Access 2003. I ended up having to send my source to their
> machine, creating a new db and importing all of the
> forms/reports/macros/modules/tool bars... into the new 2003 db, and then
> attaching a digital signature I created locally. I'm still not sure what 
> is
> going to happen when others try to use it (since they aren't me), but I'm
> working with their IT department to keep the nuisance messages down.
>
> This problem is going to turn in to a serious pain in the ... neck! Does
> this mean all legacy aps are going to start pestering for approval every 
> time
> the user starts them? It looks like the bad guys have won.
>
> "Brendan Reynolds" wrote:
>
>> You only need one certificate, which you use to sign the app on your
>> development PC. Users will continue to see the warning message after the
>> application is signed until and unless they choose to always trust
>> applications signed with that certificate.
>>
>> Class 2 (individual developer) certificates are almost impossible to 
>> obtain.
>> I did eventually manage to buy one from GlobalSign (www.globalsign.com)
>> despite originally being told that they did not sell them. I asked 
>> whether
>> this was a one-off exception or a change in policy, but I never did get 
>> any
>> answer.
>>
>> I haven't done this, but I understand that if all users of the app log on 
>> to
>> the same domain, and the server is running Windows Server 2000 or later, 
>> you
>> can create a certificate using Certificate Services on the server that 
>> will
>> be valid across that domain.
>>
>> You mention "Access XP". The version of Access included in Office XP was
>> Access 2002, not Access 2003, and it is not possible to digitally sign 
>> VBA
>> code in Access 2002. The 'feature' was not added until Access 2003. So
>> before investing in any certificate, make sure that you are using a 
>> version
>> of Access that can make use of the certificate. Currently, Access 2003 is
>> the only version that can do that.
>>
>> -- 
>> Brendan Reynolds (MVP)
>> http://brenreyn.blogspot.com
>>
>> The spammers and script-kiddies have succeeded in making it impossible 
>> for
>> me to use a real e-mail address in public newsgroups. E-mail replies to
>> this post will be deleted without being read. Any e-mail claiming to be
>> from brenreyn at indigo dot ie that is not digitally signed by me with a
>> GlobalSign digital certificate is a forgery and should be deleted without
>> being read. Follow-up questions should in general be posted to the
>> newsgroup, but if you have a good reason to send me e-mail, you'll find
>> a useable e-mail address at the URL above.
>>
>>
>> "Paul Sanguinetti" <PaulSanguinetti@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
>> message news:D2840266-62E2-407F-B10E-25CD923E4A06@microsoft.com...
>> > One of my clients just upgraded his Citrix server from Access 97 to 
>> > Access
>> > 2003, so I'm in the process of replacing his ap with an Access XP 
>> > version.
>> > Since I had to download his data, import it into a new back end, and
>> > replace
>> > the front end, and upload the whole works to his server, I'm now 
>> > getting
>> > messages that the db's are from an unknown source. On my XP machine all 
>> > I
>> > have to do us unblock the db's, but that doesn't seem to be an option 
>> > in
>> > this
>> > case. All my attempts to research digital signatures has left me very
>> > confused.
>> >
>> > Can anybody tell me how I can obtain a class 2 or class 3 digital
>> > certificate (or whatever Access 2003 will be satisfied with)? Do I have 
>> > to
>> > buy s separate certificate for each client I have this problem with? 
>> > The
>> > certification sites are no help at all. All I want to do is attach a
>> > certificate that says I'm really me and I can be trusted, so turn off 
>> > the
>> > stupid warnings.
>>
>>
>>
  • Next message: Paul Sanguinetti: "Re: Digital signature"

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