Purpose of security-mechanisms of Acrobat PDFs?
I'm wondering what's the use of the, I call them "pseudo", security-mechanisms, offered by Acrobat PDF fileformat?
The only real purpose I see is to use a user-password, i.e. to prevent unauthorized people to open a PDF by encrypting it with a password; and the signing of PDFs within a company as a means of trusting that a PDF was validated / committed by a certain user within a companys network.
But apart from that, I highly wonder why Acrobat put mechanisms in place like the ability to set an owner-password or the restriction to copy / print or edit a PDF-file. As far as I know these are simply "flags" and it highly depends on the viewer-software whether it will stick to those flags or not. Because obviously, when you set a flag like edit/print-restriction, if you are allowed the file on the computer you can easily extract the PDF-pages (even if it's only doing a screenshot as a last resort) and build a new PDF from it.
So I don't get the deal of setting those flags in-place if there's always some service / software which will just not interpret those flags and thus make it possible to remove those flags.
Won't this lead to a user to feel secure due to misconceptions?
security pdf printing adobe-acrobat
asked Jan 9 at 9:25
timtim
2471213
add a comment |
I'm wondering what's the use of the, I call them "pseudo", security-mechanisms, offered by Acrobat PDF fileformat?
The only real purpose I see is to use a user-password, i.e. to prevent unauthorized people to open a PDF by encrypting it with a password; and the signing of PDFs within a company as a means of trusting that a PDF was validated / committed by a certain user within a companys network.
But apart from that, I highly wonder why Acrobat put mechanisms in place like the ability to set an owner-password or the restriction to copy / print or edit a PDF-file. As far as I know these are simply "flags" and it highly depends on the viewer-software whether it will stick to those flags or not. Because obviously, when you set a flag like edit/print-restriction, if you are allowed the file on the computer you can easily extract the PDF-pages (even if it's only doing a screenshot as a last resort) and build a new PDF from it.
So I don't get the deal of setting those flags in-place if there's always some service / software which will just not interpret those flags and thus make it possible to remove those flags.
Won't this lead to a user to feel secure due to misconceptions?
security pdf printing adobe-acrobat
asked Jan 9 at 9:25
timtim
2471213
add a comment |
I'm wondering what's the use of the, I call them "pseudo", security-mechanisms, offered by Acrobat PDF fileformat?
The only real purpose I see is to use a user-password, i.e. to prevent unauthorized people to open a PDF by encrypting it with a password; and the signing of PDFs within a company as a means of trusting that a PDF was validated / committed by a certain user within a companys network.
But apart from that, I highly wonder why Acrobat put mechanisms in place like the ability to set an owner-password or the restriction to copy / print or edit a PDF-file. As far as I know these are simply "flags" and it highly depends on the viewer-software whether it will stick to those flags or not. Because obviously, when you set a flag like edit/print-restriction, if you are allowed the file on the computer you can easily extract the PDF-pages (even if it's only doing a screenshot as a last resort) and build a new PDF from it.
So I don't get the deal of setting those flags in-place if there's always some service / software which will just not interpret those flags and thus make it possible to remove those flags.
Won't this lead to a user to feel secure due to misconceptions?
security pdf printing adobe-acrobat
asked Jan 9 at 9:25
timtim
2471213
I'm wondering what's the use of the, I call them "pseudo", security-mechanisms, offered by Acrobat PDF fileformat?
The only real purpose I see is to use a user-password, i.e. to prevent unauthorized people to open a PDF by encrypting it with a password; and the signing of PDFs within a company as a means of trusting that a PDF was validated / committed by a certain user within a companys network.
But apart from that, I highly wonder why Acrobat put mechanisms in place like the ability to set an owner-password or the restriction to copy / print or edit a PDF-file. As far as I know these are simply "flags" and it highly depends on the viewer-software whether it will stick to those flags or not. Because obviously, when you set a flag like edit/print-restriction, if you are allowed the file on the computer you can easily extract the PDF-pages (even if it's only doing a screenshot as a last resort) and build a new PDF from it.
So I don't get the deal of setting those flags in-place if there's always some service / software which will just not interpret those flags and thus make it possible to remove those flags.
Won't this lead to a user to feel secure due to misconceptions?
security pdf printing adobe-acrobat
security pdf printing adobe-acrobat
asked Jan 9 at 9:25
timtim
2471213
asked Jan 9 at 9:25
timtim
2471213
asked Jan 9 at 9:25
timtim
2471213
asked Jan 9 at 9:25
timtim
2471213
asked Jan 9 at 9:25
timtim
2471213
2471213
add a comment |
add a comment |
1 Answer
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I think the security mechanism in PDF files are more related to the document process life in a structured company and for prevent modification of the file. Off course is easy to bypass the protection, some file you can use any print to PDF software and most of the flag are gone, but the generated PDF is not signed.
So, I imaging, in a company who receive a document signed by a trusted authority could trust the document, for example if a technician receive a procedure describe how to operate safely in a critical environment and the company use the security feature of PDF file who read the document signed can trust it; is wrote and sign by, let me say, "John Doe" who take the responsibility of the operation described in the document.
This is my think and probably only a part the reason for PDF security mechanism
answered Jan 9 at 9:42
AtomiX84AtomiX84
4779
That was what I thought as well: It's a good standard for people working/collaborating in a big company to see the signature etc. But it's bad for everybody who distributes PDF files via mail or puts them online on a webpage, hoping that no one except the owner will be able to modify or print those files. So it leads to a wrong understanding of security in this case and I hope it's a big danger for people which can barely use a computer - and trust me, there are many like this (in fact I know a lot). So it gives you a wrong impression.
– tim
Jan 9 at 15:41
add a comment |
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I think the security mechanism in PDF files are more related to the document process life in a structured company and for prevent modification of the file. Off course is easy to bypass the protection, some file you can use any print to PDF software and most of the flag are gone, but the generated PDF is not signed.
So, I imaging, in a company who receive a document signed by a trusted authority could trust the document, for example if a technician receive a procedure describe how to operate safely in a critical environment and the company use the security feature of PDF file who read the document signed can trust it; is wrote and sign by, let me say, "John Doe" who take the responsibility of the operation described in the document.
This is my think and probably only a part the reason for PDF security mechanism
answered Jan 9 at 9:42
AtomiX84AtomiX84
4779
That was what I thought as well: It's a good standard for people working/collaborating in a big company to see the signature etc. But it's bad for everybody who distributes PDF files via mail or puts them online on a webpage, hoping that no one except the owner will be able to modify or print those files. So it leads to a wrong understanding of security in this case and I hope it's a big danger for people which can barely use a computer - and trust me, there are many like this (in fact I know a lot). So it gives you a wrong impression.
– tim
Jan 9 at 15:41
add a comment |
I think the security mechanism in PDF files are more related to the document process life in a structured company and for prevent modification of the file. Off course is easy to bypass the protection, some file you can use any print to PDF software and most of the flag are gone, but the generated PDF is not signed.
So, I imaging, in a company who receive a document signed by a trusted authority could trust the document, for example if a technician receive a procedure describe how to operate safely in a critical environment and the company use the security feature of PDF file who read the document signed can trust it; is wrote and sign by, let me say, "John Doe" who take the responsibility of the operation described in the document.
This is my think and probably only a part the reason for PDF security mechanism
answered Jan 9 at 9:42
AtomiX84AtomiX84
4779
That was what I thought as well: It's a good standard for people working/collaborating in a big company to see the signature etc. But it's bad for everybody who distributes PDF files via mail or puts them online on a webpage, hoping that no one except the owner will be able to modify or print those files. So it leads to a wrong understanding of security in this case and I hope it's a big danger for people which can barely use a computer - and trust me, there are many like this (in fact I know a lot). So it gives you a wrong impression.
– tim
Jan 9 at 15:41
add a comment |
I think the security mechanism in PDF files are more related to the document process life in a structured company and for prevent modification of the file. Off course is easy to bypass the protection, some file you can use any print to PDF software and most of the flag are gone, but the generated PDF is not signed.
So, I imaging, in a company who receive a document signed by a trusted authority could trust the document, for example if a technician receive a procedure describe how to operate safely in a critical environment and the company use the security feature of PDF file who read the document signed can trust it; is wrote and sign by, let me say, "John Doe" who take the responsibility of the operation described in the document.
This is my think and probably only a part the reason for PDF security mechanism
answered Jan 9 at 9:42
AtomiX84AtomiX84
4779
I think the security mechanism in PDF files are more related to the document process life in a structured company and for prevent modification of the file. Off course is easy to bypass the protection, some file you can use any print to PDF software and most of the flag are gone, but the generated PDF is not signed.
So, I imaging, in a company who receive a document signed by a trusted authority could trust the document, for example if a technician receive a procedure describe how to operate safely in a critical environment and the company use the security feature of PDF file who read the document signed can trust it; is wrote and sign by, let me say, "John Doe" who take the responsibility of the operation described in the document.
This is my think and probably only a part the reason for PDF security mechanism
answered Jan 9 at 9:42
AtomiX84AtomiX84
4779
answered Jan 9 at 9:42
AtomiX84AtomiX84
4779
answered Jan 9 at 9:42
AtomiX84AtomiX84
4779
answered Jan 9 at 9:42
AtomiX84AtomiX84
4779
4779
That was what I thought as well: It's a good standard for people working/collaborating in a big company to see the signature etc. But it's bad for everybody who distributes PDF files via mail or puts them online on a webpage, hoping that no one except the owner will be able to modify or print those files. So it leads to a wrong understanding of security in this case and I hope it's a big danger for people which can barely use a computer - and trust me, there are many like this (in fact I know a lot). So it gives you a wrong impression.
– tim
Jan 9 at 15:41
add a comment |
That was what I thought as well: It's a good standard for people working/collaborating in a big company to see the signature etc. But it's bad for everybody who distributes PDF files via mail or puts them online on a webpage, hoping that no one except the owner will be able to modify or print those files. So it leads to a wrong understanding of security in this case and I hope it's a big danger for people which can barely use a computer - and trust me, there are many like this (in fact I know a lot). So it gives you a wrong impression.
– tim
Jan 9 at 15:41
That was what I thought as well: It's a good standard for people working/collaborating in a big company to see the signature etc. But it's bad for everybody who distributes PDF files via mail or puts them online on a webpage, hoping that no one except the owner will be able to modify or print those files. So it leads to a wrong understanding of security in this case and I hope it's a big danger for people which can barely use a computer - and trust me, there are many like this (in fact I know a lot). So it gives you a wrong impression.
– tim
Jan 9 at 15:41
That was what I thought as well: It's a good standard for people working/collaborating in a big company to see the signature etc. But it's bad for everybody who distributes PDF files via mail or puts them online on a webpage, hoping that no one except the owner will be able to modify or print those files. So it leads to a wrong understanding of security in this case and I hope it's a big danger for people which can barely use a computer - and trust me, there are many like this (in fact I know a lot). So it gives you a wrong impression.
– tim
Jan 9 at 15:41
add a comment |
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