Implementing Information Rights Management

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One of the hardest problems to solve in the digital domain is limiting access to information. You can use passwords, accounts, and other access restrictions to limit who can view files on a computer or network, but once an unprotected file is out in the open it can be copied and distributed easily. The new Information Rights Management (IRM) capabilities in Office 2003 help maintain the confidentiality and integrity of your information by limiting who is able to view and edit your files. Specifically, network administrators can create policies that allow you to set user-level permissions to limit access to the material. Users who somehow get their hands on unauthorized copies of the files will not be able to peek at your company's budget for the next year. Users who are authorized recipients of the file but don't have Office 2003 or later installed on their computer will be able to use file viewers that let them examine the files, but not edit them.

Note 

Information Rights Management is only available in Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2003, Word 2003, Excel 2003, and PowerPoint 2003.

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