Using Outlook 2003 to Help Protect Messages


You have two main options for helping to protect messages in Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 from unauthorized use, tampering, or change: 1) Information Rights Management (IRM), and 2) cryptographic messaging using the S/MIME standard. While both of these options can help protect messages your users send and receive, they work differently and are each best suited for different scenarios.

S/MIME is a standard for sending digitally signed and encrypted e-mail messages. Using S/MIME in Outlook 2003 is the preferred way to:

  • Sign a message to prove the identity of the sender.

    S/MIME is the only option Microsoft Office 2003 supports for digital signatures. Technically, an IRM message is a lot like a signed message because it cannot be tampered with. But IRM protection is more limited because there are no authorities that will attest to the identities of the senders, and the Outlook 2003 user interface does not show information about the identity of the sender.

  • Help ensure that Internet e-mail messages are not vulnerable to attackers “sniffing” the wire.

    The focus here is on the Internet, as that is where point-to-point encryption is most valuable and where interoperability standards are most important.

The biggest value for using S/MIME is when users are sending and receiving e-mail messages outside of corporate boundaries, where they are not protected by the corporate firewall.

Another feature that can help to protect messages in Outlook is IRM. IRM gives organizations and information workers greater control over sensitive information. IRM is the preferred way to help to:

  • Protect messages containing sensitive information by restricting the ability to forward or copy the message.

    The reasons to use IRM have little to do with whether an unauthorized person outside the organization—for example, a hacker on the Internet—will intercept the communication. Instead, IRM is best put to use when the sender is concerned that the intended recipient will share the information inappropriately with others.

  • Prevent people from using out-of-date information by enforcing message expiration.

    With IRM, expiration dates on messages are enforced (unlike expiration dates set on messages without IRM).

The biggest value for IRM is within the corporation, where employees need to share information while maintaining some control over who has access to this information—especially to help ensure that this information does not leak outside the corporate firewall.

Resources and related information

You can set several options when you deploy Information Rights Management in an organization. For more information about understanding and customizing IRM in Office 2003, see Chapter 20, “Information Rights Management.” To learn about the options you have for deploying IRM with Outlook 2003, see “Configuring Information Rights Management for Messaging in Outlook 2003” in Chapter 7, “Deploying Outlook 2003.”

Cryptography in Outlook 2003 can be configured to suit the specific needs of your organization. For more information about customizing and managing cryptographic messaging, see Chapter 11, “Administering Cryptography in Outlook 2003.”




Microsoft Office 2003 Resource Kit 2003
Microsoft Office 2003 Editions Resource Kit (Pro-Resource Kit)
ISBN: 0735618801
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2004
Pages: 196

flylib.com © 2008-2017.
If you may any questions please contact us: flylib@qtcs.net