We recently discussed email security for accountants and mentioned that the use of password-protected files is not usually a very good solution for meeting data privacy needs.  After writing this and getting some feed back, we thought that the issue of password-protected files really deserves some further discussion.  Many people are under the assumption that if they use the “password protection” features of whatever software they are using, that their data is safe and secure.  However, this is not necessarily the case.  Why?

Using password-protected files to secure data is fast and easy and built into many applications.  Why not use it?  Certainly, password protecting files is much better than not doing so.  However, there are several things that determine how secure these “protected” files really are.

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