I'm trying to limit the possibility of confidential data being copied from an
excel spreadsheet & then used outside of our organisation. Can Excel 2003 be
setup to open only on specific company computers?
--
Del

You're kind of fighting an uphill battle.

You could require a password to open the file(s) - but anyone with the
password can of course then open it on any machine.

You could even write code to detect the user's login name on the system and
restrict that to some 'authorized access' list - BUT the simple expedient of
holding the [Shift] key down while opening the file keeps that code from
executing.

In fact, I don't even have to open the file to dig the information out of
it. I could create a brand new workbook and set a formula reference into a
copy of it on disk and get the values on it - this would be somewhat
circumvented if the file required a password to open it.

Pretty much anything you can do, someone else can undo. There are password
discovery (cracking) tools readily available that will reveal usable
passwords to:
open files
unlock protected workbooks
unlock protected worksheets
unlock protected VBA projects

Encrypting the files is another potential 'speed bump' to put in the way of
would be data thieves. Bottom line: you really can't stop someone determined
to get at the data as long as they can get to the file. A data security
manager's worst nightmare is the thumb drive. You can put stumbling blocks
in the way and hope they are enough to finally tire out the attacker - but if
the data is of significant worth to someone, they're going to eventually be
able to get at it. You have to balance the number and type of stumbling
blocks to put in place against the inconvenience to valid users who need to
use that information.

Excel, in and of itself, is not a secure environment for data. However, the
OS and other security features available to it and the network can assist
quite a bit in securing access to the file itself.

"Del boy" wrote:

I'm trying to limit the possibility of confidential data being copied from an
excel spreadsheet & then used outside of our organisation. Can Excel 2003 be
setup to open only on specific company computers?
--
Del

Thanks JL! Now I'm beginning to realise how hard this task can be.....
All our staff have a smart card id tag (PKI) could this be a linked to excel
to somehow limit opening of a spreadsheets by valid staff? I know once they
have the file open they can copy/edit etc but I'm trying to limit ex
staff/competitors opening up files if they get them.

Any thoughts?
--
Del


"JLatham" wrote:

You're kind of fighting an uphill battle.

You could require a password to open the file(s) - but anyone with the
password can of course then open it on any machine.

You could even write code to detect the user's login name on the system and
restrict that to some 'authorized access' list - BUT the simple expedient of
holding the [Shift] key down while opening the file keeps that code from
executing.

In fact, I don't even have to open the file to dig the information out of
it. I could create a brand new workbook and set a formula reference into a
copy of it on disk and get the values on it - this would be somewhat
circumvented if the file required a password to open it.

Pretty much anything you can do, someone else can undo. There are password
discovery (cracking) tools readily available that will reveal usable
passwords to:
open files
unlock protected workbooks
unlock protected worksheets
unlock protected VBA projects

Encrypting the files is another potential 'speed bump' to put in the way of
would be data thieves. Bottom line: you really can't stop someone determined
to get at the data as long as they can get to the file. A data security
manager's worst nightmare is the thumb drive. You can put stumbling blocks
in the way and hope they are enough to finally tire out the attacker - but if
the data is of significant worth to someone, they're going to eventually be
able to get at it. You have to balance the number and type of stumbling
blocks to put in place against the inconvenience to valid users who need to
use that information.

Excel, in and of itself, is not a secure environment for data. However, the
OS and other security features available to it and the network can assist
quite a bit in securing access to the file itself.

"Del boy" wrote:

I'm trying to limit the possibility of confidential data being copied from an
excel spreadsheet & then used outside of our organisation. Can Excel 2003 be
setup to open only on specific company computers?
--
Del