For more tips on Cyber Security, head over to our article “Tips for Increase Cyber Security“.
Technology is becoming an essential part of people’s lives, helping facilitate their day-to-day activities. It has also become the arena for many malicious actors trying to inflict damage to their victims. This article will look at steps that an individual can take to improve the security of their Microsoft Office applications.
We will also provide a basic cheat-sheet for non-tech savvy readers to increase their cyber security.
Microsoft office products such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook have been very popular for decades, helping businesses and individuals with their day-to-day operations. This popularity has also attracted malicious actors that are intent on using the product to gain access to your electronics and data. To improve Microsoft Office security, emphasis will be put on key security settings and cheat-sheets to help protect overall security.
Most MS Office solutions contains a Trust Center where it allows you to increase/decrease the security level of the software. Below is a list of settings that can be changed to conform to the level of sophistication that the user has.
On average, it is preferable that ‘non tech savvy’ users receive training to ensure they are well equipped to navigate the challenges of the technological world since it is difficult to determine when someone will gain access to an electronic without the setting provided below.
Note: Microsoft Word has been used for exemplification purposes, most MS Suite solutions follow the same rationale. For Microsoft Excel Security, refer to this and for Microsoft Powerpoint security refer to this link.
Open Microsoft Office Software >File > Options > Trust Center > Trust Center Settings.
Go to the ‘Trusted Documents’ segment and check mark “Disable Trusted Documents”.
Technical: If (Status = 1 or N/A, then leave it blank), otherwise if status is Blank, then let the user know that the “Status is Unavailable”. If none of the points raised before have occurred, then take the Due Date minus Today’s Date.
Checkmark all options.
In General:
Do you have any questions or would like to contribute to the discussion? Leave a comment!