Security problem in PowerPoint
in [Powerpoint]
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From: pam on 15 Jan 2010 18:21 For corporate and government security reasons as well as for certain issues of personal privacy, the file names associated with images must NOT appear in the presentation, especially when converted to a PDF. However, PowerPoint automatically inserts the image file name as alternate text. There is no way to search for alternate text and there is no way to turn off this automatic "feature." Users dealing with classified and sensitive information thus unwittingly insert restricted information into PowerPoint files that migrate with the file when it is converted to other formats. It also allows users to covertly insert hidden text into presentations. There really needs to be an option to not automatically generate alternate text, and there needs to be a way to examine a presentation to find alternate text. The "Document Inspector" feature should also be able to remove all alternate text from a presentation. ---------------- This post is a suggestion for Microsoft, and Microsoft responds to the suggestions with the most votes. To vote for this suggestion, click the "I Agree" button in the message pane. If you do not see the button, follow this link to open the suggestion in the Microsoft Web-based Newsreader and then click "I Agree" in the message pane. http://www.microsoft.com/office/community/en-us/default.mspx?mid=142b5581-dc8e-4183-85c5-2e97e10dbbb9&dg=microsoft.public.powerpoint
From: John Wilson john AT technologytrish.co DOT on 16 Jan 2010 05:11 Hi Pam We use a small in house AddIn that removes all AltText from 2007 presentations. Drop me a line you would like a copy to test. -- john ATSIGN PPTAlchemy.co.uk Free PPT Hints, Tips and Tutorials http://www.pptalchemy.co.uk/powerpoint_hints_and_tips_tutorials.html "pam" wrote: > For corporate and government security reasons as well as for certain issues > of personal privacy, the file names associated with images must NOT appear in > the presentation, especially when converted to a PDF. However, PowerPoint > automatically inserts the image file name as alternate text. There is no way > to search for alternate text and there is no way to turn off this automatic > "feature." Users dealing with classified and sensitive information thus > unwittingly insert restricted information into PowerPoint files that migrate > with the file when it is converted to other formats. It also allows users to > covertly insert hidden text into presentations. > > There really needs to be an option to not automatically generate alternate > text, and there needs to be a way to examine a presentation to find alternate > text. The "Document Inspector" feature should also be able to remove all > alternate text from a presentation. > > ---------------- > This post is a suggestion for Microsoft, and Microsoft responds to the > suggestions with the most votes. To vote for this suggestion, click the "I > Agree" button in the message pane. If you do not see the button, follow this > link to open the suggestion in the Microsoft Web-based Newsreader and then > click "I Agree" in the message pane. > > http://www.microsoft.com/office/community/en-us/default.mspx?mid=142b5581-dc8e-4183-85c5-2e97e10dbbb9&dg=microsoft.public.powerpoint
From: Steve Rindsberg on 16 Jan 2010 12:17 In article <142B5581-DC8E-4183-85C5-2E97E10DBBB9(a)microsoft.com>, Pam wrote: > For corporate and government security reasons as well as for certain issues > of personal privacy, the file names associated with images must NOT appear in > the presentation, especially when converted to a PDF. However, PowerPoint > automatically inserts the image file name as alternate text. This probably depends entirely on how you're making PDFs from PowerPoint. For example, if you're using 2007 and the Save As | PDF option, I'm pretty sure all you need to do is click the Options button in the Save As dialog box and remove the checkmark next to "Document structure tags ..." option. Unfortunately, PPT doesn't remember your choice here ... you'll need to do this every time you make a PDF. Other PDF-making methods probably have similar options There is no way > to search for alternate text and there is no way to turn off this automatic > "feature." Users dealing with classified and sensitive information thus > unwittingly insert restricted information into PowerPoint files that migrate > with the file when it is converted to other formats. It also allows users to > covertly insert hidden text into presentations. > > There really needs to be an option to not automatically generate alternate > text, and there needs to be a way to examine a presentation to find alternate > text. The "Document Inspector" feature should also be able to remove all > alternate text from a presentation. > > ---------------- > This post is a suggestion for Microsoft, and Microsoft responds to the > suggestions with the most votes. To vote for this suggestion, click the "I > Agree" button in the message pane. If you do not see the button, follow this > link to open the suggestion in the Microsoft Web-based Newsreader and then > click "I Agree" in the message pane. > > http://www.microsoft.com/office/community/en-us/default.mspx?mid=142b5581-dc8e-4183- 85c5-2e97e10dbbb9&dg=microsoft.public.powerpoint ============================== PPT Frequently Asked Questions http://www.pptfaq.com/ PPTools add-ins for PowerPoint http://www.pptools.com/
From: pam on 16 Jan 2010 13:37 I accidentally ran into this as I was looking at a pdf version of a presentation dealing with trusted operating systems given at a security conference. The mouse-over revealed the location of which missile defense center command room was being pictured. I was able to finally figure out where the unwanted text was "hidden" and was able to remove it before the pdf went out. But I'm sure that this is a widespread issue.
From: Steve Rindsberg on 16 Jan 2010 15:03 In article <B0C5559B-0010-4165-AAFA-F984518C9997(a)microsoft.com>, Pam wrote: > I accidentally ran into this as I was looking at a pdf version of a > presentation dealing with trusted operating systems given at a security > conference. The mouse-over revealed the location of which missile defense > center command room was being pictured. I was able to finally figure out > where the unwanted text was "hidden" and was able to remove it before the pdf > went out. But I'm sure that this is a widespread issue. I imagine so, and it's unfortunate that there seems to be no way to set the options permanently. To some extent, though, it has to be the responsibility of those *concerned* about security to train users to enable security. I suspect the defaults are there to meet the needs of most government and academic institutions for accessibility, a far larger audience. Just the same, this is obviously something MS should be aware of. I've passed it along to a contact there. We have a PDF-assistant sort of add-in for PowerPoint called Prep4PDF http://www.pptools.com/prep4pdf/ If there's enough interest in this problem, I'd be happy to look into ways of removing all such information while making PDFs. Try the free demo and use the Contact link on the site to get in touch if interested. Thanks for bringing this up. ============================== PPT Frequently Asked Questions http://www.pptfaq.com/ PPTools add-ins for PowerPoint http://www.pptools.com/
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