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egirard1-Visitor
1-Visitor
November 5, 2012
Solved

Mathcad Prime 2.0 conversion defeats V14 protection

  • November 5, 2012
  • 6 replies
  • 3131 views

I converted and opened a protected Mathcad 14 document using an evaluation version of Mathcad 15 and Mathcad Prime 2.0.

To my surprise, calculations don't work anymore.

To my great dismay, the sections of the original file that were protected are not anymore, I have access to the proprietary algorithms that were intended to be hidden.

I am just a user of this sheet, but I can bet there are sheets out there that are meant to stay protected and people that will be happy to see them.

The protection function also seems to have been forgotten in this software installment!

I hope this will help preserve someone's sanity.....

Best answer by RichardJ

If there were areas wih hidden material, those areas should have been locked. If they had been locked, you would not be able to convert the file.

As Michael says, the help sdoes say protectoin should not be used for security. Regardless of what the help says though, I agree with you that being able to convert a password protect worksheet, and thereby undo the protection, makes a joke out of the idea of passwords.

6 replies

ValeryOchkov24-Ruby IV
24-Ruby IV
November 5, 2012

We must unprotected (expand areas etc) a Mathcad 15 sheet before using the converter!

egirard1-VisitorAuthor
1-Visitor
November 6, 2012

Using the converter unprotects and expands areas that should not be unprotected or expanded.

MichaelH1-Visitor
1-Visitor
November 6, 2012

Eric Girard wrote:

To my great dismay, the sections of the original file that were protected are not anymore, I have access to the proprietary algorithms that were intended to be hidden.

It clearly states in the Help section of MC15 (see "Protecting Your Worksheets") that "protection" (for editing) should not be confused with "security".

egirard1-VisitorAuthor
1-Visitor
November 6, 2012

The protection topic in help is rather more complex then just disabling or enabling editing.

Protection from view and locking an area are defined.

They are also defeated by just converting the files, using free evaluation software and following instructions.

Understood no hacker proof encryption is intended, this is still a real issue.

It's just plain wrong and decieves users who trusted this feature to at least require hard work to break in.

It is the same as password protected file from Office 2003 could be opened using Office 2010.

Would this be any more acceptable?

RichardJ19-TanzaniteAnswer
19-Tanzanite
November 6, 2012

If there were areas wih hidden material, those areas should have been locked. If they had been locked, you would not be able to convert the file.

As Michael says, the help sdoes say protectoin should not be used for security. Regardless of what the help says though, I agree with you that being able to convert a password protect worksheet, and thereby undo the protection, makes a joke out of the idea of passwords.

egirard1-VisitorAuthor
1-Visitor
November 6, 2012

I am not familiar with MC, just a user of this sheet.

The areas are collapsed to prevent view and can't be expanded.

Right click on sections I can expand give me the choice to lock them.

Right click on sections I can't expand do not give me the choice to unlock them.

In the tools menu, the 3rd choice is unprotect worksheet...

I made myself a file in MC15 with a locked section and an unlocked section, then I protected the sheet with a content protection level.

The unlocked section looks quite like the protected sections in the file I first converted.

The converter gives an error:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<ConversionLog Date="12-11-06 14:52:04">

<Errors><FatalError Category="Unsupported" Text="This worksheet contains 1 locked collapsed areas. Locked collapsed areas are not supported in Mathcad Prime 2.0. You must unlock or expand areas before conversion." /></Errors>

</ConversionLog>

That's a good thing.

I removed the lock and protected the sheet with content level protection, conversion defeated that protection.

I then protected the sheet with edit level protection, conversion defeated that protection too.

Even if there is a way to properly protect sensitive data, I bet a few will wish they could go back in time and do it the good way.

To others who may have forgotten their password, rejoice!

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