Re: Encryption Used in Word 2004 for Mac

Hi Chris:

Yes: I believe you're quite correct.

On 9/7/06 5:16 PM, in article 4hborbF1qr6qoU1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "Chris Ridd"
<chrisridd@xxxxxxx> wrote:

If you are expecting Level 5 intrusion attempts from organised crime or
nation states, then you better organise something a bit more secure :-)

Oh, *far* more people than that will be able to break into your docs.

Basically: Anyone who can read the instructions on the internet. Or who
feels entirely confident giving their credit card details to someone who
cracks passwords for a living.

The question is: How many will?

Your average commercial secret is worth money for about two weeks. It takes
a bit longer than that to learn to do this (particularly, if you have a day
job...)

If you really want to securely encrypt Office documents, save them
unencrypted and use a separate tool like PGP to encrypt them. You could
copy them into an encrypted Apple disk image too, if you wanted a free
solution that was Apple-only.

Yeah: Apple uses AES-128 encryption which is a little more difficult to
crack (not much...). Since it was invented for the US Government, at least
that way you will know that only Uncle Sam's spooks will be able to crack
your data easily. As well as all his friends (and enemies...) :-)

Word's encryption does an OK job of keep the nosey co-workers at the office
out of your documents. But it won't keep out a determined, well-funded,
well-resourced attacker.

The various governments that you and I vote for (or against!) will never
allow consumer software to be shipped with any form of encryption that would
keep the guvvermint out of your business (or the business of your local drug
dealer or terrorist...)

Locking a document up that tight can be done. Of course it can. It takes
fairly serious planning, expertise, and hardware. Encryption is the easy
bit. Developing business processes that ensure YOU can always get your data
back again -- and that someone who is trying really hard -- can't. That's
one reason the CIA costs so much money to run.

They use Word (the same as everyone else) to create their documents. But
they don't bet their careers on Word's encryption. Their enemies are a bit
more determined than that.

Hope this helps

--

Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email
me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie <john@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Microsoft MVP, Word and Word for Macintosh. Consultant Technical Writer
Sydney, Australia +61 (0) 4 1209 1410

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Encryption Used in Word 2004 for Mac
    ... To me this is the largest security breach in existence in business and academia today. ... crack. ... Since it was invented for the US Government, ... Word's encryption does an OK job of keep the nosey co-workers at the office ...
    (microsoft.public.mac.office.word)
  • Re: Multi-layered PKI implementation
    ... I think I have a grasp on the basics of PKI as it relates to X.509 ... Suppose a business wants to ... dual key encryption has little to offer over more ... Unlike real physical keys to doors, he does not have to carry ...
    (Debian-User)
  • Re: Instant Ciphertext-Only Cryptnalysis of GSM Encrypted Communication
    ... > on security by the people in the cellphone business, ... > programming of his own, for example, to do some encryption ... I read that in UK there is now business offering ... > regulations are playing a role? ...
    (sci.crypt)
  • Re: Forgot to decrypt backup before reinstalling XP
    ... I created backup folders of my business information ... Deleted Partition containing XP Pro on 120GB HD ... >>Hopefully it is an Ownership issue and not an encryption ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.security_admin)
  • Re: "Trusted Computing" SCAM?
    ... Michael Pelletier wrote in ... > big American business interests. ... For the longest time I have been a fan of encryption to produce computer ... privacy and, more broadly, privacy in general. ...
    (alt.computer.security)