Exactly HOW secure is Microsoft Access?

[infrequentcoder]

I am very curious in comparison between Access and Excel the security differences in each. Without the advent of quantum computing, I understand getting into a binary excel file that has a 255 character password is nearly impossible. However, in contrast, ACCDB is clearly not binary format - nor does there appear to be a binary option available. Exactly how easy is it to breach the security of a password-protected Access file? Why would Excel support greater security measures than its database counterpart?

 

[Micron]

AFAIK, if you password protect an Access db and lose the password, you might as well forget about ever opening it. There are/were services that for a fee, claimed to be able to find at least part of the password by looking at the binary data in a certain portion of the file but no guarantees. IMO once open, Access security can be fairly robust in terms of what poking around people can do and look at, but it takes some work. Not sure if Excel can match that.

 

[infrequentcoder]

AFAIK, if you password protect an Access db and lose the password, you might as well forget about ever opening it. There are/were services that for a fee, claimed to be able to find at least part of the password by looking at the binary data in a certain portion of the file but no guarantees. IMO once open, Access security can be fairly robust in terms of what poking around people can do and look at, but it takes some work. Not sure if Excel can match that.

Thanks. Is there documentation available to support that the database password is masked via binary format within the accdb file?

Also, can you please elaborate on what the robust security does for those who are poking around once the database file is open?

 

[jackd]

Here is a longer thread all related to security of an accdb.

 

[Micron]

Hopefully jackd's link will provide the info you need. I don't know what you mean by binary format as it's not the format of the file I was referring to. IIRC, the password is part of the file data and they only way you can read it is via a hex editor, or something like that. Beyond my area of expertise.