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Protecting a PDF
Hi
I was wondering if any of you have experience with protecting PDF files? What i want to do, is somehow stop the editing of the PDF, and not allow copy and paste. It would be a bonus if somehow i can stop the PDF been distributed around too, but how hard/expensive is this? It too would be great if there was an easy way to add somesort of watermark to each page, for example, the persons email address to put them off passing it around. In short, it be great if the only way they can copy it, was to litrually type it out word for word. Looked over google, bing, etc, and found a million and one things, so just wondering if anyone can save me time and recommend a way or product to do this? Thanks |
I suspect the only way to do this is not to distribute it. Say they feed it as an image to an OCR program - they have both the text, and depending on the program a passable facimile of the layout. Or they simply print and photocopy it and pass that round.
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Or, to 'reverse-engineer' C5's post:
If the doc's not too huge, you could print, scan, and then distribute all of the document as a .pdf or word doc or even a series of .gif's. Doesn't get over C5's reservations - but, as you've pointed out, the recipients could copy-type the thing in any case. Even if you watermarked each page before scanning, that could - in theory - be reproduced by the recipient. Depends on how much trouble you/they are prepared to take... |
With normal PDFs, you are limited to the options presented to you in the properties dialogue box (which I trust you have discovered ??).... you can prevent copying and editing in there*.
What you probably want is a more specialist "DRM" solution such as LockLizard (LockLizard.com) However one word to bear in mind when evaluating any potential solution..... screenshot ..... don't underestimate it's power. ..... :cool: *=subject to technical limitations as to their efficiency (No, I have no association with LockLizard, just happens to be a name I've heard before in certain circles). |
Protecting a PDF
From Adobe Acrobat's Help file ********************************** Security You can use passwords to restrict users from opening, printing, and editing PDFs. You can use a certificate to encrypt PDFs so that only an approved list of users can open them. If you want to save security settings for later use, you can create a security policy that stores security settings. By adding security to documents, you can limit viewing, editing, printing, and other options to only the specified users. You can choose if you want the users to have the required password, a digital ID, or access to Adobe LiveCycle Rights Management. Important: Complete, updated Help is on the web. For a complete version of this topic, click the links below or search complete help at community.adobe.com/help. Security methods Acrobat provides different security methods for specifying document encryption and permission settings. You can encrypt all or part of a document and limit user actions. For example, you can allow users only to fill in form fields or prevent them from printing a PDF. Each security method offers a different set of benefits. However, they all allow you to specify encryption algorithms, select the document components to encrypt, and set permissions for different users. Use the Document Properties dialog box to choose one of the following security methods: § Password security provides a simple way to share documents among users when sharing passwords is possible or when backward compatibility is required. Password policies do not require you to specify document recipients. § Certificate security provides a high level of security, eliminates the need for password sharing, and allows assigning different permissions to different users. Also, you can verify and manage Individual user identities. § Adobe LiveCycle Rights Management policies are stored on a server, and users must have access to the server to use them. To create these policies, you specify the document recipients from a list on Adobe LiveCycle Rights Management. Security policies After choosing the security method, you can save the settings as a policy. Policies save time while ensuring a more consistently secure workflow. They allow you to create a reusable library of pre-configured security methods. Importing and exporting security settings You can easily share some or all of your security settings with others by exporting and importing the settings. In enterprise environments, you can save the security settings on a server, and then load them by specifying the URL for the server. You can also use the exported settings to back up and restore your settings, as needed. Security envelopes You can add security to one or more documents by embedding them in an encrypted envelope, called a security envelope. Envelopes are PDF files with attachments. This method is especially useful if you want to send a few secure file attachments without encrypting the files. You can embed the documents as file attachments in a security envelope, encrypt the security envelope, and send it to the recipients. When the recipients open the envelope, they can extract the file attachments and save them to disk. The saved files are identical to the original file attachments and are no longer encrypted when saved. ************************************* Nuance's PDF Converter 6 does the same (256 and 128-bit protection) etc and is considerably cheaper. |
Warmtoast,
All well and good, except you fail to mention the weaknesses of the security options built into the PDF standards. Fundamentally, those security policies are a request to the reader software to disable certain features (e.g. printing). Adobe's own reader will, of course, comply with those requests .... third party tools and software may not necessarily do so. |
Thanks for all that info, looking into it all now.
Weakness i see is the print feature. You can print to file, then OCR. But, is there any anit OCR techniques. One that springs to mind is to put loads of small, faded text in the background as such to trick the OCR and causing issues. Bottom line is, if they really want it, they'll type it out, but its all about adding some barriers to deter the 90% of people. Some people just cant be stopped. |
I don't think you'll stop anyone who wants to do it.
I've got a screen-grab plus OCR that I use a lot, and it just works - on anything. |
planecrazy.eu
I guess the answer may be affected by why you are protecting it .
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If it is genuinely unique information that cannot be found elsewhere and is entirely your intellectual property, then make recipients sign a properly drafted NDA before release.
Yes, NDAs are not watertight ..... but at least it gives you a more solid legal foundation than you might otherwise have. It also tends to make people think twice before disseminating your document. But in the end, the only real solution is the old "air gap" firewall. Document is on a computer, not connected to any network, cables superglued into their ports and unused ports superglued off. People have to sit at that computer to read the document. (assuming you don't start wearing your tin foil hat and worrying about people reading the document through EMF, or your house being bugged, or your phones being tapped, or.......... :cool: ). |
i use acrobat pro and lock down pdf documents all the time
open the file.. click on file tab down to document properties security menu choose password security or certificate security and choose if you want prevent opening of the document or restrict printing or prevent editing. after options have been selected click OK/apply save and close the document to enable changes |
Passwords are far too easy to remove from PDFs if you have the right tools :=
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This has to be the BEST password removal tool for PDF Files.
The website says that Simpo PDF Password Remover is designed to remove PDF password, including both owner and user password. And, to successfully remove the user password to unlock PDF files, you are required to correctly enter user password firstly. |
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