On 29/09/2011, at 11:32 AM, David Nicholas wrote: > I have just discovered what seems to be at first look a serious security > problem with the latest Pages on Snow Leopard. Or perhaps it is just my > machine. > > I have a pages document which is security protected with a Password. Today, > not having closed the machine the night before, I used the file but then > closed it, as part of demonstrating to my partner how the security works! > However, when I re-opened it there was no screen requiring a Password!!!! I > fussed around for a while, then rebooted the machine and the same thing > happened. To the best of my memory today is the first time a Password has > not been required. > > I went into Inspector and sure enough on the Document menu the "Require > password to open" box was ticked. I went off to "Change password". I > entered the Old password which I store in my personal short term memory and > then entered (twice of course) a new password - stored in the same place. > Now I rebooted my machine and sure enough when I opened the file it required > a password, which I entered successfully. > > However, when I again rebooted the machine the file opened without requiring > a password. > > It seems as if when I first open the file using the correct current password > that password is then stored somewhere which survives the file being closed > or the machine being rebooted. When I change the password that new password > doesn't go into whatever memory is being used until it is used to open the > file. > > I'm fairly sure that this is the first time I have observed this behaviour. > I often close down the machine at night, but not always. I didn't last > night, but I did the night before and therefore would have had to open the > file yesterday morning. I don't remember what happened when I opened it, but > I assume I would have noticed if the password wasn't required. > > Can anybody shed light on this anomalous behaviour? It's an important file > which I want to keep protected. Have I somehow allowed someone out there > access to my iMac to plant some kind of Trojan? I could start a rather > tedious procedure where I always change the password before I close the file. > Any suggestions? > >
I have just tried this on my system, and it works fine, as long as you DON'T click the checkbox which allows you to save the password to your keychain. If you turn that option on, the file open without question, but only on your computer while logged into your account. If you send that file to someone else, they will definitely need the password every time, unless they, too, elect to save the password in their keychain. Open your file again, change the password to something different, hen close it and open it again. This time you will be asked for a password, and you will be able to uncheck that checkbox. Peter Hinchliffe Apwin Computer Services FileMaker Pro Solutions Developer Perth, Western Australia Phone (618) 9332 6482 Mob 0403 046 948 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Mac because I prefer it -- Windows because I have to. -- The WA Macintosh User Group Mailing List -- Archives - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/archives.shtml> Guidelines - <http://www.wamug.org.au/mailinglist/guidelines.shtml> Settings & Unsubscribe - <http://lists.wamug.org.au/listinfo/wamug.org.au-wamug>
