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Reviewing Quality of Password Protection: Other Office Programs |
Microsoft Outlook
Being a part of the office suite Microsoft Outlook enables password-protecting
personal folders (.pst files). Personal files can contain confidential
data, and therefore a reliable password protection would be very current
for them. Unfortunately, the implementation of password protection in
Outlook is monstrously incompetent - regardless of the length and
complexity of a password, it is possible to instantly build up a
password, which would differ from the original but nevertheless fit the
"protected" file. Nothing has changed over the more than a decade-long
history: Outlook 2010 is just as primitive in terms of password protection as its very
first versions. Outlook, perhaps, is the most clamant example of ignorance
and slapdash attitude to users - in the essence, a direct deception takes
place here: by setting up a password, user is entitled to assume that
it is totally impossible to access the file without the password (the
Outlook application gives such warning); however, in the reality that's
not true, Outlook Password recovers
all such passwords instantly.
VBA modules (macros in Offices programs)
VBA stands for Visual Basic for Applications. Such modules can be present
in Office applications (and not in them alone). They are used for realizing
macros and programming "inside" the document. Although VBA modules
are always built into some document, in the essence that is a self-sustaining
software product with its own editor, debugger and integration means.
There is a way to set password to a VBA module. Such module would work,
but user would be unable to open it, view the code and/or modify it. Password
protection in VBA is based upon storing hash from password. Thus, if a
password was long and complex enough, it would be impossible to recover
it. However, VBA Password could replace
the hash - then the password could be replaced with a known one. Thus,
password protection of VBA modules is not reliable and does not provide
due protection.
OneNote
OneNote has emerged relatively recently, and in the very first version
it featured an intelligent and strong enough password protection. In version
2007, the protection was strengthened even further (now it has become
very similar to what's used in Word
2007 and Excel 2007); thus, OneNote is one of the most reliable (in
terms of the strength of its password protection) applications. Further
information: OneNote Password
PowerPoint
Password protection in PowerPoint is reliable enough, and in version 2007
it has become even more reliable (uses the same scheme as in Word
2007 and Excel 2007). Just as in the case with Word and Excel, LastBit
offers using cloud computing - renting computing power - for cracking
the password. Further information: PowerPoint
Password
MS Project
In the early versions (up until version 2007) password protection was
implemented incompetently at all; the password was stored inside the document,
and one could instantly extract it. In version 2007, the protection has
been strengthened significantly. The password can be found only by searching
all characters (brute force attack) or with dictionary attack; moreover,
the search speed occurs to be quite low. However, the implementation error
allows building special tables, which significantly speed up the search.
Since the tables take considerable room (over one terabyte), Project
Password offers a special service for recovering passwords: user submits
the request, and within 24 hours he would get a reply. Using the tables
does not guarantee the success; they just considerably speed the search
of passwords. If the password isn't too long, it will be recovered within
24 hours. Further information: Project
Password
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