Chapter 34 -- Addressing Security Issues

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Chapter 34

With the proliferation of personal computing and the recent surge of networking at all levels, sharing Microsoft Word documents is more commonplace than ever. With this added increase in document swapping, you need to take an active role in making your information secure. Document security in Word comes in a number of forms. Most people know the importance of employing security measures at the network level, but you can also provide data integrity by securing your information at the document level. For example, you can perform the following document security tasks in Word:

• Control who can open and modify your documents.
• Specify the types of changes others can make to your document.
• Remove personal and hidden information.
• Identify yourself as the author of a document (by using digital signatures).
• Protect yourself and others from macro viruses.
• Control security settings when you send e-mail messages.

In this chapter, you'll learn about the various document protection schemes available in Word. Keep in mind that the security features offered by Word can work independently as well as in combination with each other. Not surprisingly, you'll often find that the best security setup for your situation involves taking advantage of a combination of Word's security features.