Microsoft Access Protection - Workgroup Issues

A Note From A User

Hello, My name is Alex and I live in Switzerland.

I have been asked to secure an Access Database.

So I bought and read Garry's book "Real World Microsoft Access Database Protection and Security".

Then I have secured a sample database using user-level security.

But when I downloaded a trial version to crack user-level password I found out that the version is able to recover the ID of the owner of the Database even if it doesn't have the security file (*.mdw)

And so when you have the ID of the owner you just have to re-create whatever workgroup file and to re-create the owner in it and then you have full permission on everything?

Is there a way to prevent this to happen?

Thank you.

Alex.

Hi Alex

I totally agree with your diagnosis. When I wrote the book, there were 2 products that did this but quite a few that didn’t. By not writing about it in the book, I tried not to direct users to those products and if they downloaded a password cracker, it generally would require the workgroup file to work.

To solve the problem, you either/or need to produce a MDE to protect your code or hide the location of the files in Windows Folders. Generally though the Access workgroup security will act as a good policeman for the average user. If you have something really important, create smokescreens for that particular data.


Garry Robinson

Is Your Database Secure ? Need to know more about how to protect your database investment. Confused about Access security. Then have a look at the book that Garry is writing for Apress.
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Garry Robinson writes for a number of popular computer magazines, is now a book author and has worked on 100+ Access databases. He is based in Sydney, Australia

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