Digital Signiture and Shift Key Bypass

10 Jun 2009 10:14 PM

EricG

I just added a digital signiture to the VBA project in the front end of my
database. The first time I opened it, I got a warning about the certificate,
and I selected the "Always trust..." option. When I did that, I no longer
got the usual security warning dialog which allows me to use the shift key
bypass to open the application with the main Access window showing. Is this
what is supposed to happen? Does adding the signiture automatically prevent
the shift key bypass?

Also, is it possible (or necessary) to convert the ".mdb" file into a ".mde"
file for security purposes?

Thanks in advance,

Eric

11 Jun 2009 2:40 PM

EricG

Never mind, I figured out the right sequence to convert the signed database
front end to an "mde" file that disables the shift key bypass.

11 Jun 2009 3:53 PM

Keith Wilby

"EricG" <Er***@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:DF194B5D-1F58-425F-9639-BE8A38155E61@microsoft.com...
> Never mind, I figured out the right sequence to convert the signed
> database
> front end to an "mde" file that disables the shift key bypass.
>

An mde does *not* have a disabled bypass key by default.

Keith.
www.keithwilby.co.uk

12 Jun 2009 3:36 AM

Tom van Stiphout

On Wed, 10 Jun 2009 15:14:00 -0700, EricG
<Er***@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

But you can still hold down the Shift key while you open the signed
file.

Typically an mdb is first turned into an mde, then signed.
To understand why, consider what a digital signature does: it has two
and only two purposes:
1: It tells you without a doubt who signed the file
2: It tells you that the file was not modified while in transit from
signer to you.
Following this, a signed MDB would still have all source code
available to any user, whereas an MDE does not.

-Tom.
Microsoft Access MVP

Show quoteHide quote

>I just added a digital signiture to the VBA project in the front end of my
>database. The first time I opened it, I got a warning about the certificate,
>and I selected the "Always trust..." option. When I did that, I no longer
>got the usual security warning dialog which allows me to use the shift key
>bypass to open the application with the main Access window showing. Is this
>what is supposed to happen? Does adding the signiture automatically prevent
>the shift key bypass?
>
>Also, is it possible (or necessary) to convert the ".mdb" file into a ".mde"
>file for security purposes?
>
>Thanks in advance,
>
>Eric

15 Jun 2009 9:05 PM

EricG

What I ended up doing was first signing the mdb file, then converting it to
an mde file, then turning off the shift key bypass using my "backdoor"
method, programmatically. That seems to have worked - shift key no longer
works, the digital signiture is intact, and the mde file works.

That's a little backwards compared to your response, but the end result is
probably the same.

Thanks for your response,

Eric

Show quoteHide quote

"Tom van Stiphout" wrote:

> On Wed, 10 Jun 2009 15:14:00 -0700, EricG
> <Er***@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:
>
> But you can still hold down the Shift key while you open the signed
> file.
>
> Typically an mdb is first turned into an mde, then signed.
> To understand why, consider what a digital signature does: it has two
> and only two purposes:
> 1: It tells you without a doubt who signed the file
> 2: It tells you that the file was not modified while in transit from
> signer to you.
> Following this, a signed MDB would still have all source code
> available to any user, whereas an MDE does not.
>
> -Tom.
> Microsoft Access MVP
>