protecting macro code

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julian_m - 15 Jan 2006 20:58 GMT

Yes, I know that this is a subject frecuently asked, in fact, i want to
ask something related to a previous post

from
http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.excel.programming/browse_frm/thr
ead/2c669b4c728ff026/87ca7c178874a1d2?lnk=st&q=protecting+excel+macros&rnum=4&hl
=en#87ca7c178874a1d2

>2. steve
> Sep 17 2003, 3:24 pm show options
>Newsgroups: microsoft.public.excel.programming
>From: "steve"
>Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2003 11:22:13 -0700
>Local: Wed, Sep 17 2003 3:22 pm
>Subject: Re: protecting excel macros from being changed/ seen by user>>

>Jon,

>Go to the VBE

>From the Tools menu protect the project with a password and save.

>The next time the workbook is opened it will require a password to view
>the code.

>But remember a serious "hacker" can get in...

How can a "serious hacker" get the data? I mean, just playing a little
bit with an hex editor or what?

I used to program in Visual Basic years ago, and I remember that there
were something called OCX controlls(compiled code), wich can be embebed
into any MS office application. Are them still there in VB net?

regards- jm

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Tim Williams - 15 Jan 2006 21:27 GMT

>>Go to the VBE
>
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
> How can a "serious hacker" get the data? I mean, just playing a little
> bit with an hex editor or what?

Yes - easy to find the method with a little googling

> I used to program in Visual Basic years ago, and I remember that there
> were something called OCX controlls(compiled code), wich can be embebed
> into any MS office application. Are them still there in VB net?

In VB or VB.net you could wrap your code into a dll and use that from within
Excel. That would be much more secure than VBA.

Tim

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John Gunther - 26 Jan 2006 02:23 GMT

Another possible solution: obfuscate (= replace with functionally
equivalent, but very hard to understand) the VBA code within the
workbook.

Invisible Basic is an Excel Add-in for obfuscating the VBA code within
Excel workbooks. Using its "Save Invisibly As" command, you can create
a copy of your workbook whose code is obfuscated. That way, even if
they crack your password, all they will see is really ugly,
inscrutable, code.

It's free and open source and available at:

http://invisiblebasic.sourceforge.net/

Creating a separately compiled component likely is more secure, but
this approach is a lot easier (no separate compiler required). This is
a relatively new Addin and I'd very much appreciate any feedback on the
product the Excel/VBA brain trust associated with this newsgroup could
provide.

John

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