I would like to send a document with sensitive information via e-mail to a
relative. If I create an encrypted word (word 2002) document I can attach it
to the e-mail (I do not use Outlook Express). What are the steps necessary to
create this (secure)document?
There are various ways to secure a document, and the best one to use
depends in large part on the reasons you want to secure it, i.e., what
your threat is. If you want to secure something against the risk of a
very energetic, resourceful, and knowledgeable attack, your best way
to proceed would be different than if you want to secure it against
the prying eyes of a neighbor or family member who does not have
energy, resources, and knowledge. If you want to secure something
because it's traveling the cyber super highways, that probably falls
somewhere in between, unless you or the recipient or the information
is attractive enough to warrant the attention of those with sufficient
energy, resources, and knowledge.
So, against, that background, there are two basic ways to go. You can
encrypt the document from within Word or by using an external
program. I don't have Word 2002, so someone should jump in here if
the commands are different, but try saving (or saving as) the
document, but before confirming the file name, click Tools/Security
options from within the Save dialog box. (Again, this is Windows, and
perhaps the Mac port has a different command structure.) Set a
password to open the document. You should also click Advanced and
select a strong encryption scheme instead of the weak one that is
Word's first choice. The longer and more complicated your password
the better, with both capitals and lower case and with numbers;
perhaps Word 2002 can also take symbols, which would be good.
An alternative which in many ways is superior in terms of encryption
but more work is to save the file normally, and then encrypt it
through the file system with something like GnuPG or PGP. (If you are
concerned about someone accessing the document on your own computer,
then you would want to "wipe," not delete, the unencrypted file from
your hard disk.) Using GPG/PGP is beyond the scope of a reply here,
but if encryption is something you may need again and if your threat
level is appreciable, then you will want to spend the time figuring it
out. It can also be used with e-mail.
