Guide to Office 2013 security

 

Applies to: Office 2013, Office 365 ProPlus

Summary: Provides a guide to security-related articles, blogs, and downloads for IT pros deploying Office 2013.

Audience: IT Professionals

The following table describes resources that are available to IT Professionals who are assessing Office security.

Office 2013 security roadmap for IT pros

	Start here	Office 2013 provides many security features to help safeguard your organization’s intellectual property. To get started, check out the security overview and learn about security threats and countermeasures. If you’re deciding whether to deploy one of the cloud-based Office 365 SKUs or on-premises Office 2013, you can compare the security features for each Office SKU, and you can also download a white paper about security in Office 365 for more details.
	Configure security using Group Policy and OCT	IT pros can configure Office security by using the Office Customization Tool (OCT), Administrative Templates and Group Policy, or the Trust Center. If your organization includes Macs, you can also deploy security preferences for Mac 2011.
	Protect Office file integrity	Protection settings help you choose encryption methods, enable digital signatures, and decide which types of COM objects are allowed to run. Learn about cryptography and encryption settings available in Office 2013, such as which settings affect compatibility with earlier versions of Office. Use digital signature settings to enable XAdES digital signatures in Office documents. Use file block settings to prevent users from opening specific file format types. Use COM object categorization to prevent certain types of COM objects from running while allowing others.
	Use Trust Center settings to guard against external threats	Trust Center settings let you minimize the threats posed by add-ins, VBA macros, ActiveX controls and other content from sources you haven’t granted trusted status to. You can also use Protected View settings to control the behavior of the sandbox preview, a feature that lets you open and examine files in a restricted environment before you enable all content. Use Trusted Locations settings and Trusted Publishers settings to grant trusted status to specific folders and people so that trust doesn’t have to be granted explicitly every time a document is opened.
	Opt out of the Microsoft Customer Experience Improvement Program	The Microsoft Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP) automatically sends information to Microsoft about how you use certain products. Microsoft uses the data to resolve problems and improve its products and features. Participation is voluntary, and no personal information is collected about the user. But, you can opt out of the Customer Experience Improvement Program if you want. For more information about Microsoft privacy policies, see the Privacy Statement for Microsoft Office 2013.
	Downloads	Here are the downloads that are related to Office security: DocRecrypt tool (See Remove or reset file passwords in Office 2013 for more information) Security in Office 365 white paper
	Reference	Privacy Statement for Microsoft Office 2013 Microsoft Office Personalized Experience Program Microsoft Customer Experience Improvement Program
	Ask questions and provide feedback	If you have questions about how to configure security in Office 365 or Office 365 ProPlus, feel free to ask them in the Office 2013 and Office 365 ProPlus - Planning, Deployment, and Compatibility forum on TechNet. Or, read blog posts about the security features and leave comments in the Office IT Pro Blog.

See also

Roadmap for Office 2013 identity, authentication, and authorization
Content roadmap for Office 2013 compatibility

Getting started guide for deploying Office 365 ProPlus