Microsoft has hit back at critics of Word's password-protect feature, which the company has admitted is not safe from hackers.

The tool is intended to make collaboration easier, Microsoft told ZDNet UK, explaining that users should invest in digital signatures or an Adobe Acrobat-type application if they want security.

A set of relatively simple instructions on how to bypass the security of a password-protected Word document was published on the Internet on Friday. Thorsten Delbrouck, chief information officer of German security company Guardeonic Solutions, informed Microsoft about the vulnerability in November 2003. A week later, Microsoft updated its Knowledge Base to warn users that the feature should not be used for security purposes.

By Munir Kotadia at ZDNet.

[ Read more ]