PPT Security

PPT Security is a vague search term. As I was looking through some of the popular search phrases I did see this one. It’s not clear to me if people are searching for powerpoint presentations on security, or interested in ppt security (measures that can be taken to secure powerpoint files.) There’s also a company known as PPT Security. This page will try to cover all of those bases. So, hopefully no matter what you’re searching you will have come to the right place!

First let’s talk about Powerpoint and securing your presentation files. Powerpoint has made it very easy for anyone to put together easy presentations and one of the problems that some run into is finding a way to secure their powerpoint presentation so no one can tamper with it. So, how do you secure your powerpoint (ppt) files? One option for you might be to convert it into a video. There is software available that can essentially record your presentation as a video. Once that is done then it would be more challenging for someone to edit the video to alter your presentation. You may be able to conver the slides to JPG files and then piece them together using Windows Movie Maker.

PPT2DVD let’s you convert your powerpoint ppt file into something suitable for playing from a DVD. That’s right you can turn your PPT into a DVD movie essentially. The disc will then be read only and your data shouldn’t be tampered with that way. The nice thing about converting your presentation to video is that you will make it easier for the recipients to view it. *No need for powerpoint.

WIthin powerpoint you can mark your presentation as final and then only the creator of the file can make further changes. You can also go to the File Menu, Choose Prepare and select Restrict Permission. Here you can restrict usage of the file to users, and also digitally sign the document. You may also be able to password protect your presentation in the same menu with the choice to Encrypt the Document. More info on digital signatures can be found here

In the tools menu, options and then choose security. Here you can set password permissions for viewing and altering your document. I have heard that this can be easy to bypass though.

Macro Security is something that can be related to ppt security. If a users powerpoint macro security settings are too high, macros within powerpoint may not run and you may not receive a warning that they were blocked. Go to Tools, Macro, Security. Then on the tab that says security level, check medium. On trusted publishers check the box next to Trust all installed add-ons and templates. Close the dialogs and now powerpoint should be able to prompt when new macros are encountered.

Just like other office products you may be concerned that your powerpoint file (ppt) contains personal information that you would not want leaked to the public. If you want to make certain that your ppt is secure in this regard go to the office menu (older versions would be file) then prepare document and choose inspect. This launches the document inspector. Check the boxes in front of the information you want to inspect. In this case: Document Properties and Personal Information. It will generate a list of items then that you can remove. You may want to rerun this and make a second pass through the document.

It is also possible for a virus or other malware to use vulnerabilities in powerpoint to compromise a system. For that reason proper ppt security practices would be to be cautious with ppt files that you are unsure of their origin. For instance if you receive an email with a ppt presentation it would be best to verify (via another communications channel) with the sender that they really send the attachment to you, after determining if it’s legitimate and they would not attempt to deceive you then you can open it.

If you are looking for ppt files ABOUT computer security. What follows are some good references:

http://www.ecu.edu/cs-itcs/itsecurity/Security-Awareness-PPT.cfm

http://www.potaroo.net/t4/pdf/security.pdf (ironically this is a pdf of a ppt presentation which would be another way to secure a powerpoint file by converting it to a file format that can be read only for the recipients.)

Another good security awareness ppt is http://www.southtexascollege.edu/ITSprojects/infosec/Information Security Awareness.ppt

If you are looking for the company ppt security: pptsecurity.com – they sell many personal, car and business security products including cctv cameras.

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