Access Workgroup Security

[justin.poole]

I need to post a database on a CD to a client today and need to
implement security so that all the tables, forms, report, etc are not
able to be edited and so that the data is not even able to be copied
from forms.

So far I have enabled a VBA password, and disabled and locked all the
text boxes in all forms.

Correct me if I am wrong but as I am aware the workgroup information
file (.mdw) stores all the user level security information. How will
Access know where to find this file if I put it on a CD? Can relative
pathing be used for this?

 

[John Vinson]

I need to post a database on a CD to a client today and need to
implement security so that all the tables, forms, report, etc are not
able to be edited and so that the data is not even able to be copied
from forms.

So far I have enabled a VBA password, and disabled and locked all the
text boxes in all forms.

Correct me if I am wrong but as I am aware the workgroup information
file (.mdw) stores all the user level security information. How will
Access know where to find this file if I put it on a CD? Can relative
pathing be used for this?

You need to associate a specific .mdw file with the database, and
include that file on the CD.

If you have not yet done so, download the Access 2000 Security
Whitepaper from Microsoft's website. STUDY IT CAREFULLY. Workgroup
security is tricky, and it is quite possible to create a security
scheme which is burdensome for legitimate users but wide open for a
knowledgable third party - or even lock it down so you can't get into
it yourself!

The whitepaper has instructions for properly joining the appropriate
workgroup file.

Note that Access security is not absolute - it cannot, for example,
protect your data from being harvested by a "screen scraper" copying
the visible data from a Form. You can and should distribute a .MDE
file (rather than a .MDB) to make the VBA code inaccessible and
prevent design changes to the forms and reports.

John W. Vinson[MVP]