SECURITY AND PRIVACY issues with computers and computer networks are constantly in the news these days, and everyone seems to be concerned about them to some degree. Businesses everywhere are worried about having sensitive customer information such as credit card numbers or email addresses stolen, so they tell their information technology (IT) staff to make sure that everything is secure and locked down. And managers tell their office workers to follow corporate security policies and procedures closely or risk facing disciplinary consequences. As a result, the busy office workers sometimes feel as though they are between a rock and a hard place—management threatens them with the rock if they don’t follow the security guidelines, and IT just seems to make it harder for them to do their jobs.

Compounding these pressures are the software applications that office workers use to perform their work. While productivity software like Microsoft Office can be rich in features and capabilities, businesses often commit too little time and money to train their workers adequately in effectively using such software. The result is that the busy office worker can become the weak link in an organization’s efforts to secure and protect its information systems and data.

This book tries to fill the gap where Office is concerned, and it is intended as a guide to how to use the powerful security and privacy features of this platform effectively. Although the entire book applies to Office 2010, some of the content also can be helpful to businesses that use the cloud-based version of Office called Office 365.