Guide to Office 2013 security

 

Applies to: Office 2013, Office 365 ProPlus

Summary: Provides a guide to security-related articles, blogs, and downloads for IT pros deploying Office 2013.

Audience: IT Professionals

Content roadmap for IT professionals (banner image)

The following table describes resources that are available to IT Professionals who are assessing Office security.

Office 2013 security roadmap for IT pros

Getting started

Start here

Office 2013 provides many security features to help safeguard your organization’s intellectual property. To get started, check out the security overview and learn about security threats and countermeasures.


If you’re deciding whether to deploy one of the cloud-based Office 365 SKUs or on-premises Office 2013, you can compare the security features for each Office SKU, and you can also download a white paper about security in Office 365 for more details.

123 steps

Configure security using Group Policy and OCT

IT pros can configure Office security by using the Office Customization Tool (OCT), Administrative Templates and Group Policy, or the Trust Center.


If your organization includes Macs, you can also deploy security preferences for Mac 2011.

Behind the scenes icon

Protect Office file integrity

Protection settings help you choose encryption methods, enable digital signatures, and decide which types of COM objects are allowed to run.

Behind the scenes icon

Use Trust Center settings to guard against external threats

Trust Center settings let you minimize the threats posed by add-ins, VBA macros, ActiveX controls and other content from sources you haven’t granted trusted status to.


You can also use Protected View settings to control the behavior of the sandbox preview, a feature that lets you open and examine files in a restricted environment before you enable all content.


Use Trusted Locations settings and Trusted Publishers settings to grant trusted status to specific folders and people so that trust doesn’t have to be granted explicitly every time a document is opened.

Security icon

Opt out of the Microsoft Customer Experience Improvement Program

The Microsoft Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP) automatically sends information to Microsoft about how you use certain products. Microsoft uses the data to resolve problems and improve its products and features. Participation is voluntary, and no personal information is collected about the user. But, you can opt out of the Customer Experience Improvement Program if you want.


For more information about Microsoft privacy policies, see the Privacy Statement for Microsoft Office 2013.

Downloads

Downloads

Here are the downloads that are related to Office security:

Stack of books

Reference

Chat icon

Ask questions and provide feedback

If you have questions about how to configure security in Office 365 or Office 365 ProPlus, feel free to ask them in the Office 2013 and Office 365 ProPlus - Planning, Deployment, and Compatibility forum on TechNet. Or, read blog posts about the security features and leave comments in the Office IT Pro Blog.

See also

Roadmap for Office 2013 identity, authentication, and authorization
Content roadmap for Office 2013 compatibility

Getting started guide for deploying Office 365 ProPlus