Excel 2007 : Different security levels in workbooks containing sensitive information among employees

Hi all,

In the organization where I work, there are security systems and protocols, which guarantee a high level of security for the company's archives.
The downside of the those systems is that they consuming a worthless (sometimes) time in proccessing or to get the appropriate approvals.

What I need is to have a reliable way to protect the sensitive company's informations which are contained in excel workbooks and they
must be shared among 3 different security levels employees (heads of missions, full timers and part timers)

Locking cells and workbooks with passwords it's a start, but they have minimum level of security because after the first time the workbook is opened
it's easy for everyone to save it without the given passwords and transfered to whereever he pleases.

As far as I know the highest security level provided by Excel is to encrypted (128) and protected by a long password.
While it's secure enough it suffers by the same restrictions. After the first authorized open it can be saved without password.
Another downside of password protection is that, passwords can be transfered aswell.

The ideal solution would be :

1. The encrypted workbook opens every time with password (save without password to be forbidden).
2. Those passwords to have 3 different expiration dates (heads of missions, full timers and part timers), set by the administrator.
3. The action taken by Excel if someone try to break the security, or attempt unauthorized open : erase the content.

The most importand of all is all the above must can be achieved without using (macros, VBA, ETC) because it is forbidden by the comany's policy.

I really don't know if it's doable, but if there is a possibility to get anywhere close to the above, it would be a great help.

Regards

Originally Posted by abousetta

Sorry to rain on your parade but Excel's native security (all of it) can be broken into by anyone with an internet connection since there are tons of sites that either offer turn-key solutions or even vba code to do this for free. If security is what you need then you will have to invest in 3rd party software that will do the securing for you. Before buying, use the trial period to get a security expert to attempt at breaking the security levels offered by the advertised software before purchasing because some are as easily cracked as Excel's native security.

Unfortuantely there are no easy answers to this as Excel was not designed to store sensitive information. Even the half-descent solutions are built using Excel's vba which you said is not allowed.

Dear abousetta,

I was afraid that the answer to my thread would be just like yours.
Since it's obvious that your knowledge on this subject is way better than mine,
would be kind enough to introduce to me a 3rd party software that you know and trust ?

Thanks, any way

Originally Posted by abousetta

Sorry to rain on your parade but Excel's native security (all of it) can be broken into by anyone with an internet connection since there are tons of sites that either offer turn-key solutions or even vba code to do this for free. If security is what you need then you will have to invest in 3rd party software that will do the securing for you. Before buying, use the trial period to get a security expert to attempt at breaking the security levels offered by the advertised software before purchasing because some are as easily cracked as Excel's native security.

Unfortuantely there are no easy answers to this as Excel was not designed to store sensitive information. Even the half-descent solutions are built using Excel's vba which you said is not allowed.

Dear abousetta,

I was afraid that the answer to my thread would be just like yours.
Since it's obvious that your knowledge on this subject is way better than mine,
would be kind enough to introduce to me a 3rd party software that you know and trust ?

Thanks, any way

Originally Posted by abousetta

There is some discussion on security measures in this thread. As for 3rd party software, I am not a white hat and so security is not my thing. I was interested for a while and so looked briefly at some software options (all found through google). All of course claimed to be secure but some with a little more digging I found workarounds for some of them. That's why I would recommend consulting a security expert to determine your individual needs.

Hope this helps.

abousetta

Yeap !

It helps.
I'll follow your suggestions.

Thanks very much for the time and effort