Office Encryption?

[Edgardo B.]

Hello,

I've read "Changes in encryption file properties in Office 2003 and Office
2002"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290112

Is there a consensus that using one of the RC4 encryption methods inside of
Word is 'secure', when using the 128 key length? What about Excel, because
I believe previous Excel encryption was lauded to be 'easy' for PW crackers.

Additionally some reviews written suggest using GNUPG
(http://www.gnupg.org/) as an alternative for stronger encryption,
suggesting that the Office encryption is not adequate. Is this generally
believed to be true that Office Encryption methods are not sufficient?

Thanks!
Edgardo

 

[Bob Buckland ?:-\)]

Hi Edgardo,

You may want to use the link below to also post this in the MS security discussion groups. You haven't defined what 'sufficient'
would be for your needs. For some folks, keeping someone else in the office or home from accidentally or casualing opening a file
is sufficient. For others, causing a determined hacker to be severly challenged to open a file might be the needed level of
security.

The questions raised here are often more on the lines of how do I open files where the passwords are either (a) forgotten, or (b)
are on company files worked on by employees no longer at a company.

The security environment would also be a consideration (ie what server/host products are deployed, is the security for email or for
documents hosted on a server with specific profiles established).
============
Hello,

I've read "Changes in encryption file properties in Office 2003 and Office
2002"
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290112

Is there a consensus that using one of the RC4 encryption methods inside of
Word is 'secure', when using the 128 key length? What about Excel, because
I believe previous Excel encryption was lauded to be 'easy' for PW crackers.

Additionally some reviews written suggest using GNUPG
(http://www.gnupg.org/) as an alternative for stronger encryption,
suggesting that the Office encryption is not adequate. Is this generally
believed to be true that Office Encryption methods are not sufficient?

Thanks!
Edgardo >>
--
Please let us know if this has helped,

Bob Buckland ?
MS Office System Products MVP

LINKS
A. Specific newsgroup/discussion group mentioned in this message:
news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.security
or via browser:
http://microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups/en-us/?dg=microsoft.public.security

B. MS Office Community discussion/newsgroups via Web Browser
http://microsoft.com/office/community/en-us/default.mspx
or
Microsoft hosted newsgroups via Outlook Express/newsreader
news://msnews.microsoft.com