[dba-Tech] Securing Excel File to avoid E-mail forwards

On 19 Dec 2005 at 8:23, Tina Norris Fields wrote:

> I agree with the comment that once you have forwarded a file to someone, you
> have no further control over it.  However, as far as protecting the Excel
> file from prying eyes, would it be sufficient to password protect it for
> opening?  Then, it is available only to your recipients who know the
> password (unless a recipient gives away the password, of course).  
> 
$40 for a password cracker.

> The idea of building in some code that logs things like the date and 
> name of user, all of which gets hidden in the Excel file itself is 
> appealing.  That would allow backtracking if - and this is a big IF - 
> you get hold of a copy of the Excel file after it has been forwarded to a
> recipient who was not supposed to get it.
> 

It's trivial to get around that - just save the excel file as a CSV and all 
hidden code etc is gone.



-- 
Stuart