Developer Workgroup Security

Abstract

This chapter will show you how to use the Access workgroup (user-level) security system to secure your user interface and most of the objects in your database. To achieve these worthwhile goals, you need to follow some fundamental steps, such as creating a secure workgroup file, changing object ownership in the your database, and setting permissions on all or some of these objects. Just undertaking these tasks can all get a little complex, especially if you are unsure of what you are doing or what you are testing for. Another issue with workgroup security is that it can add the burden of yet another password for a user and additional responsibilities to the DBA in sorting them out. Therefore, I have structured this chapter to

• Provide you with driving instructions for the different things you need to do (can do) to implement workgroup security.

• Provide a system in which users (and the developer) never have to enter passwords.

• Produce a database in which the user cannot change the design of any object and cannot view the design of forms, reports, macros, and, to a lesser extent, modules.

• Achieve a lot of security and protection without producing a too-complex security design.

• Create a database that is not susceptible to password-cracking software (discussed in Chapter 9).

• Allow you to protect your startup options and, therefore, protect toolbars and menus, the Database window, and other startup options that you don’t want your users to tamper with.

• Set up a framework for other security measures, such as Access data and query security (discussed in Chapter 10) and operating system security (discussed in Chapter 12).