MS Access 2003 Security

[Cuc Tu]

How secure is Access 2003 if I set a password on the database? Is it crackable?

I'm not asking how to get in, but I want to put sensitive stuff in a database and if someone can get in (by hacking my PC or by physically stealing it), then I'll just avoid it.

Note, I do not actually need database functionality. I just picked Access because I had it and it has a password feature.

Is there a better way to secure or scramble information in a text file?

I thought of inventing an alpha-numeric transform, but this seems to easy to crack. For example, if I said the word "word" transforms to "xpse" then you could easily figure out how to transform "vq".

[Paul Komski]

I don't specifically know if version 2003 is any different from earlier versions but to my knowledge all Access passwords are good and only crackable by trying all possible permutations - so use a strong password if security is of the essence. The whole database can also be encrypted from the tools security sub-menus if you want to add another dimension of security.

Create both an ordinary and an encryted database (both password protected) and open them with a hex editor such as WinHex and try searching for the password and any saved data in a table. I doubt you will be able to find them.

Dont forget your password of course - they are always a double-edged sword.

Other approaches are TrueCrypt (http://www.truecrypt.org/) which is elaborate but very good and AxCrypt (http://www.axantum.com/AxCrypt/) which is quite simple to use.

Then there are password utilities themselves such as KeePass and Acerose - both of which are pretty darn secure for protecting their contents.

PS Both Word and Excel can also be password protected but I don't know how securely.

[Paul Komski]

Is there a better way to secure or scramble information in a text file?
I suppose the simplest is to use straightforward text/string encryption. There are a number of utilities (http://text-encrypt.qarchive.org/) of which Encryption And Decryption 1.1 is an effective and simple application. You can also find on-line utilities (http://webnet77.com/cgi-bin/helpers/base-64.pl) that mostly use scripts of one sort or another.

[Sylvander]

What sort of information; how much text?

Here's the FREE portable version of Acerose Password Vault (http://www.portablefreeware.com/?id=1127).
It's really intended for secure and safe [ENCRYPTED and auto-backups->(5?)] storage of URL's, usernames, passwords...
But it will also store notes.
So you could make lots of different [titled] entries [lines], each holding ONLY notes [there's a limit to size].

[Cuc Tu]

Some good ideas. The password vault may actually come in handy at work.

Thanks

[Sylvander]

You can hold the portable version on a Flash Drive and take it with you wherever you go, and use it on any suitable PC.
So then you have your website addresses etc [or whatever (Banking?)], secure/safe and available, but only you know the username and password to gain access.

[mjc]

So then you have your website addresses etc [or whatever (Banking?)], secure/safe and available, but only you know the username and password to gain access.

Unless you work for the British government...then you stand a real good chance of leaving it behind somewhere so someone can make a headline out of it...

[Sylvander]

It dawned on me after I posted #6 above that depending on how the various PC's software was configured...
You'd leave behind on any PC's used...
A record of website addresses visited...
And perhaps passwords used.

So it would be best to also take a bootable disk with a suitable OS [BartPE, or UBCD4Win?], and load the OS off that instead of using the PC's own OS installed on the HDD.