Tracking / Security of a word document

[Mark]

I have a word document that is confedential and to be provided by internal
e-mail to a select group of senior managers.

I would like to have some from of control to track any unsupported hard
copies that may be distributed.

I am aware that there are some applications that add a document number or
revision to each e-mail recipent's document ( we use Novell Groupwise).
Thus if the file is sent on else where the water mark identifies which /
who's copy was passed on... However I am unable to find out any more.

Am aware that Adobe Acrobat has some good features, but do not have access
to a Adobe Security server or MS information rights management (IRM)
within in our lan, so a roming policy that allows
the document be managed, is not available.

Has any one got some suggestions that I might be able to use. Note:
security is default to disable Macros so that is another option that is
restricted ?.

The footer already has a confidentiality statement as well as

"This document shall not be reproduced, except in full and with the written
permission of Company aa "


I would like to restrict printing, such that it is somehow identified....
OR you may have another option.


Thanks in Advance

 

[Jay Freedman]

Hi Mark,

The basic truth is that if anyone can see your documents, they can make
unauthorized copies. Period. No matter what software/hardware solutions you
think you can come up with. You can make it more difficult, but you can
never make it impossible.

When you throw into the mix the fact that Word macros are disabled and you
have no IRM, you can't even make it more difficult.

The only reasonable solution to this problem is social and legal. Your
documents already carry a confidentiality statement and a nonreproduction
statement. I assume your company has a policy manual, and somewhere in it
you state that breach of confidentiality is punishable by remedies up to and
including demotion or dismissal. Everyone in the company has to know that if
a breach happens, top management will apply those remedies without delay.

 

[Mark]

You statements smacks of Management speak ( weasel words ), however I
understand where you are comming from and the TRUTH in your words.

We all too often see "Leaked to the Media" in the news etc etc and that is
exactly what I expect might happen to my report..

I just wanted to make it a little more dificult.

Such that the watermark or back ground is updated with things such as User
?, Date, Time etc etc sothing that might at least stop hard copies being
FREEly passed around.

The info can always be viewed and passed on, but if the hard copy is a
little restricted then the more honist may think twice.

Did think of setting it as a viewable Adobe form and only having a print
button available. Thus they could read and print.... However was not smart
enough to look at the code and get the print to work and collect some local
ID that would also print on the copy..

Such is life.

Beauty is only skin deep, but ugly goes clear to the bone and Jay
Freedman said

 

[Jay Freedman]

Hi Mark,

I wasn't trying to use weasel words -- just trying to point out that this
isn't a problem that has a dependable technological solution. (BTW, I'm not
management -- used to be, hated it, went back to being a geek.)

Yes, you can put fields (UserName, PrintDate, and so forth, all listed in
the Insert > Field dialog) in the document. Unfortunately they won't work in
a watermark, but you can put them in the header or footer. *If* the user has
the "Update fields" option checked in Tools > Options > Print, the fields
will update each time the document is printed. Without macros to rely on,
though, there's no way to be sure that option is checked. There's also no
way short of macros to prevent users from deleting the fields or replacing
them with plain text of their choosing. Basically, Word was designed to be
an *editor*, not a secure viewer/printer.

I understand that there are things you can do with Adobe Acrobat to make a
PDF version more secure than a Word document. Since I don't work with
Acrobat, others will have to tell you what and how. I do know, though, that
PDF's security is easy to break if someone wants to do it. In the last year
or so, a couple of programs have been released that use OCR to convert PDF
files back into editable text quickly and easily. I don't know whether this
meets your need to make "leaks" a little more difficult.

Because the electronic tools have so little built-in security, and what Word
has is mostly nullified by disabling macros, you're left with the other
alternative: If somebody leaks, sue the bastard. If you need to know where
the document came from, there are some "hidden" things in the document file
that can suggest (but not prove) who made any alterations; most users aren't
savvy enough to remove them. See
http://www.msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/odc_wd2003_ta/html/odc_WDProtectWord2003.asp
for a discussion.

 

[Mark]

Thank you for your further comments.. I posted and then for got that you may
or may not understand where I was comming from..... "weasel words" and that
I ment no offence.

As always, data is only secure from the naive and the owner those who
feel strongly enough will get access one way or another.

Thanks


Beauty is only skin deep, but ugly goes clear to the bone and Jay
Freedman said