VBA Password Crack/Hack - How easy is it?

**paulabrozek** · 12-10-2008, 03:45 PM

Hi everyone,

Ok, so I'm a little cheezed that I've been volun-told to give up an economic model that took me over 8 months to develop to a few investment bankers that will likely sell it to the highest bidder. Of course, with no credit to me.

I've already taken a few of the necessary steps to lock it down.

Examples:
- Lock/hidden cells along with sheet protection (with password) - to prevent viewers from seeing the formulas I used.
- protect workbook (with password) - to prevent copy/paste of the sheets
- VBA - Tools - VBA Project Properties - Protection - Set password - to prevent viewing of the macros
- Hiding sheets using "Very Hidden" in VBA - to prevent viewing of sheets in general.

I guess my real question is, when this is all said and done, how easy is it for someone to break through all the passwords that I've set up in the workbook? If it's ridiculously easy, how do I prevent it (if at all)? What else can I do?

Thanks for the input.

Paula

**mewingkitty** · 12-10-2008, 03:49 PM

I kinda doubt you'll get any answers here, neighbor.

You could be genuinely getting screwed over, or you could be a disgruntled employee who wants to mangle his/her companies operations after being given notice of termination.

Sorry 'bout your luck either way, but I doubt anyone will do much for you here.

Could be wrong though.

mew.

**ChrisMattock** · 12-10-2008, 03:57 PM

In her defence it is more of a question to ensure that a workbook she has accessed to is not hacked, a pretty reasonable request I would imagine...

It's not like she is asking how to hack a workbook.

If I knew any ways to make a workbook more secure then I would let you know!

**mewingkitty** · 12-10-2008, 04:01 PM

Fair enough.

**Kenneth Hobson** · 12-10-2008, 04:02 PM

Depends on their wallet and their ability to find someone or software to do it. Generally, most can be cracked for $40 depending on level of protection.

**paulabrozek** · 12-10-2008, 04:04 PM

Yes, I guess I should clarify a few things.

I'm not getting fired, and I'm not a disgruntled employee. My hard work is being "given" to someone else who will likely use it as their own work. I want to prevent that as much as possible without rendering the spreadsheet useless.

These investment bankers need to use the model, but I don't want them to take elements of it and use it as their own. Does that make sense? I've tried to lock the spreadsheet down as much as possible (refer previous post), but I'm unsure of this procedure's security. Is it easily breakable? If so, how can I prevent that?

**Leith Ross** · 12-10-2008, 04:35 PM

Hello paulabrozek,

The only secure way is to compile the workbook. Here is a site that offers a free program to convert an Excel workbook into a compiled program (.exe)

http://orlando.mvps.org/XLtoExeMore.asp

Sincerely,
Leith Ross

**paulabrozek** · 12-10-2008, 04:41 PM

Originally Posted by Leith Ross

Hello paulabrozek,

The only secure way is to compile the workbook. Here is a site that offers a free program to convert an Excel workbook into a compiled program (.exe)

http://orlando.mvps.org/XLtoExeMore.asp

Sincerely,
Leith Ross

Thanks, I'll give that a try.

**JBeaucaire** · 12-10-2008, 05:14 PM

You can also happily provide a PDF of the document, since you're basically trying to do the same thing, make it a read-only document? Might as well print it to a digital format like PDF and distribute it that way.