password protected document with hidden columns, columns appear when copy-pasted

[onarol]

Hi everyone,

This is my problem i have this file which has a lot of info on it and
obviously certain clients shouldn't see all the info in particular
columns thus i have protected the spreadsheet and the workbook so that
nobody can make changes to it, however i noticed recently that if I
manually copy all of the content from existing spreadsheet and export
it into a new spreadsheet voila! boom all my hidden info comes up here,
keep in mind the option for unhide is greyed out too on the protected
document.

could someone tell me whether this is a software glitch or is there
anything else perhaps i missed out on?

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Bill Ridgeway]

There is no such thing as 100% security - not even for the Crown Jewels.
The best that may be achieved is 99.9xx%. I suppose if there were such a
thing as 100% security all the safe breakers and security heisters would
have to seek alternative employment or sign on the dole.

By the same token password protection is not perfect. Software password
crackers are easily available (for free) over the internet.

I'm not sure whether or not, by manually copying content into a new
spreadsheet, you are also copying your 'protection' by default. Perhaps
someone else can address that issue. What you do need to do, however, is to
have procedures in place that will ensure, as far as possible, that your
data does not go abroad. This includes not only the obvious AntiSpyware,
AntiVirus, Firewall and all critical applications very regularly updated but
also your own internal procedures. There are statistics which show that
there is a high incidence of fraud etc committed from inside businesses.
How do you know for sure that your otherwise trusted employees are not
allowing (knowingly or unknowingly) your data to be read outside?

Regards.

Bill Ridgeway
Computer Solutions

 

[JE McGimpsey]

It's by design. See

http://www.mcgimpsey.com/excel/removepwords.html

You should assume that a moderately proficient user can see anything
that's in a workbook that they have access to.