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Frequently Asked Questions

General
1. What is ExcelShield?
2. Why should I protect my Excel workbooks?
3. What types of workbooks should be protected?
4. What is the difference between ExcelShield and ExcelShield Client-Add-In?

Working with ExcelShield
1. Are my clients/colleagues able to work with the protected workbooks as usual?
2. Does ExcelShield modify my formulas?
3. Does encrypting a workbook increase its file size?

Purchase/licences/support
1. Where can I purchase ExcelShield?
2. Are there any discounts for buyers of multiple licenses (companies, authorities, organizations)?
3. What level of support is offered?
4. One of our employees encrypts all workbooks and makes them available to our other employees via our network server. How many licenses do we need?
5. May I encrypt as many workbooks as I like from an unlimited number of people?

ExcelShield Client-Add-In
1. May I give the Client-Add-In to my clients?

General

1. What is ExcelShield?
ExcelShield is the leading security solution for Excel. It protects your intellectual property, knowledge, and expertise, restricts the user rights according to your preferences, and removes hidden sensitive data from your workbooks before they fall into other people's hands. As a result, ExcelShield prevents or hampers unauthorized access, theft of information, industrial espionage, hacking, manipulation for personal enrichment, sabotage, as well as error and carelessness of the own employees, which together amount to 43% of all IT relevant damages (source: KES/KPMG Security Study 2002). Thus, ExcelShield not only protects your workbooks - it also protects your knowledge and your competitive advantage.

The formulas and data of an Excel workbook represent the know-how and expertise of its creator. Therefore, ExcelShield encrypts them using one of the strongest encryption methods (AES, Advanced Encryption Standard), which is also used by United States military authorities. After encryption, the formulas ad data cannot be inspected or tampered anymore. Note that the protected workbook remains still fully functional because the formulas and data are decrypted in memory by ExcelShield during the calculation process and the results are written to the workbook.

In addition to the encryption of the formulas and data, the user rights of the protected workbook can be restricted personally (only certain people may use the workbook) or timely (the workbook can only be used for a specific time period or until a specific date). The user rights of a workbook can also be bound to specific computer hardware, that means the protected workbook can only be used on these specific computers. An error message will be displayed on any other computer.

Hidden sensitive data that is stored automatically by Excel in the workbooks can give hackers and other attackers important information. ExcelShield is able to remove these confidential data from your workbooks.

2. Why should I protect my workbooks?
You have invested a lot of time, effort, and expertise into your Excel workbooks. This know-how represents your capital. Formulas can be hidden in Excel, but they are still there and can be inspected, copied, and modified by anyone. Also the protection of workbook and worksheets with passwords is not safe. Special hacker programs that are freely available on the Web can crack any Excel password within a few seconds.

But it is mandatory to think not only about external hackers, the own employess should be considered in the security requirements as well. According to several studies, the own employees are the highest single security risk. About a third of all security breaches in the IT area are caused by the own employees. This share rises to about the half in large companies. For example, it may be called usual that dismissed employees take copies of all important Excel workbooks with them to their new employer. In other cases, employees sell important Excel workbooks to competitors. This not only causes huge indirect financial damages but may also endanger the market position and the competitive advantage of the damaged company. An image loss is unavoidable if such an incident becomes public. Thus, protection of the intellectual property has the highest priority.

The encryption of the formulas and data and a reasonable restriction of user rights can avoid or at least hamper many damages in advance.

3. What types of workbooks should be protected?
All Excel workbooks where the formulas should not be made publicly accessible or where the formulas or data contain confidential information, and all workbooks where the user rights should be restricted in an effective way. Additionally, all hidden sensstive data should be removed from any workbook that is going to be published (e.g., to the press, on the Internet).

One argument we often hear is that the protection of a specific workbook were not necessary because the workbook is only used within the company. Please bear in mind that according to several studies the own employees form the highest security risk and that by following this decision you give everyone (including temporal employees like trainees, students, casual and subcontracted workers) full access to the formulas and to the underlying business logic and expertise.

4. What is the difference between ExcelShield and ExcelShield Client-Add-In?
ExcelShield offers the full range of functionality, i.e. it encrypts formulas and data, restricts user rights, removes hidden sensitive data, and is able to calculate other workbooks that have been protected by ExcelShield.

The free ExcelShield Client-Add-In is only able to calculate the encrypted formulas of a protected workbook. However, if you also want to encrypt or anonymize your Excel workbooks, you will need ExcelShield.

Working with ExcelShield

1. Are my clients/colleagues able to work with the protected workbooks as usual?
Yes, your clients and colleagues can work with the protected workbooks as if they were normal workbooks. For example, they can insert and delete sheets, text, graphics, etc. They can even insert new formulas and thus enhancing the functionalities of the protected workbooks. The only thing they cannot do is reading or modifying the encrypted formulas.

2. Does ExcelShield change my formulas?
No, ExcelShield only encrypts the formulas but does not modify them in any way. Before and after encryption the calculation results are of course the same.

3. Does encrypting a workbook increase its file size?
ExcelShield encrypts formulas and data in such an efficient way that the file size is reduced by about 10-25% on average.

Purchase/licenses/support

1. Where can I purchase ExcelShield?
ExcelShield can be purchased on our website. To buy ExcelShield, please follow this link to our online shop.

2. Are there any discounts for buyers of multiple licenses (companies, authorities, organizations)?
Yes. Please contact us.

3. What level of support is offered?
Buyers receive life-long free and unlimited technical support by e-mail and updates. On inquiry, we can also offer other support options to meet your individual needs.

4. One of our employees encrypts all workbooks and makes them available to our other employees via our network server. How many licenses do we need?
You will need only one license. Because only one employee is encrypting all workbooks, only she needs a license. The other employees need the free ExcelShield Client-Add-In.

5. May I encrypt as many workbooks as I like from an unlimited number of people?
Yes. With your license, you may encrypt and distribute an unlimited number of workbooks, which have been originally created by you or by other people.

ExcelShield Client-Add-In

1. May I give the Client-Add-In to my clients?
Yes, you are allowed to give the ExcelShield Client-Add-In to as many people as you want, as long as this is done without charging any costs and without modifying the Client-Add-In.