Information Security Guides for Beginners

This section of our web site provides beginners guides and overviews of digital information security, where it is used, and how to understand some of the topics by which it is often referred to.

For more in-depth guides see our document security papers.  

For an overview of terms see our information security glossary.

PDF Security

PDF encryption
Covers encryption basics, and PDF encryption basics, why you would want to use encryption to protect your PDF documents, what you should look for in a PDF encryption software package, and how PDF encryption differs from PDF security and PDF DRM.

PDF security
Explains what PDF security is, why you would want to secure your PDF documents, and the different methods of protecting them.

PDF digital rights management
Covers PDF digital rights management (PDF DRM) and the use and effectiveness of DRM controls in protecting PDF documents.

PDF password protection
Covers the use of passwords for PDF document protection and why they are significantly flawed and insecure.  Examines other alternatives to PDF password protection.

PDF copy protection
Explains what is copy protection and covers the use of copy protection in protecting PDF documents.

PDF Lock
Covers how PDF locks are used to protect PDF files and their content from misuse and piracy and the types of PDF locks available.

Protected PDF
Guide to how to create protected pdf files, opening and printing protected pdf files and why LockLizard DRM software does not create password protected pdf files.

Restrict PDF
Covers how to restrict PDF access and use, how these controls can be bypassed, and how they can be enforced using PDF restriction software.

Removing PDF Watermarks
People think that applying watermarks to PDF documents is a secure method of protecting their intellectual property.  However there are many ways to easily remove watermarks from PDF files and this article explains how.

Adobe Content Server
Adobe Content Server is a server based PDF DRM system designed to protect PDF documents and ebooks. But plagued with security issues was this why it was withdrawn from sale?

Adobe LiveCycle Rights Management
Adobe LiveCycle Rights Management was created to protect documents within an organization.  So does it provide the DRM controls that a book publisher might require, or the seller of private reports?

Adobe Digital Editions - Epub or PDF?
Adobe Digital Editions is an ebook publishing platform that supports the ePub and PDF formats. But which one should you choose for your ebooks and which one is the most secure?

Tracking PDF documents
Covers why you would want to track pdf files, what choices you have to do so, and what issues you many come across.

Information Rights Management

Digital rights management (DRM)
An overview of Digital Rights Management (DRM).

Active rights management
An overview of Active Rights Management and how it differs from Digital Rights Management (DRM) in protecting information.

Enterprise rights management
An overview of Enterprise Rights Management and how it differs from Digital Rights Management (DRM) in protecting information.

Rights management
An overview of Rights Management and information rights management controls.

Using DRM to secure file information
What a DRM tool is, and how it can be used to secure file contents by controlling the current and subsequent use of the information in the file.

Intellectual Property

Intellectual property protection
An overview of intellectual property protection and how to protect your IPR.

Intellectual property theft
An overview of intellectual property theft and what can be done to prevent it.

Intellectual property rights
An overview of intellectual property rights including the use of patents and trademarks.

Information Leakage
An overview of how DRM prevents information leakage.

Data Leakage Prevention & Trade Secret theft
How DRM controls create data leakage prevention and why DRM is so effective in stopping data theft.

Digital Publishing & copy protected content
Why digital publishing (ebook publishing and other works) should be copy protected using DRM.

Copy Protection and Prevention & Copyright

Copy prevention
An overview of copy prevention, what it is used for, and how it is applied.

Copy protection
An overview of copy protection, and its use in protecting intellectual property.

Copy control
An overview of copy control and how it differs from copy prevention and copy protection.

What is Copyright?
An overview of copyright and protection of copyright.

Prevent Printing
Discusses the requirements to prevent printing and under what circumstances preventing printing is useful.

Disable Print
Why you should disable print in your documents, and how to disable printing from pdf and disable print to file using the LockLizard DRM printing control.

Disable Copy Paste
Disabling copy paste is a vital function of any DRM software.  It prevents screenshots being readily taken and distributed and stops text and images from being easily copied and pasted into unprotected documents.

Prevent Save
Why it is important to prevent save and disable save as in a DRM system to ensure unprotected content cannot be made.

Content Security & Protection
Why you need DRM to protect and secure content, why encryption is not enough, and why digital signatures and PKI can be a security and management issue.

Information Control & Document Security

Internal document control
An overview of internal document control, covering international standards and the systems available for the internal control of documents.

External document control
An overview of external document control, and how control over external documents (documents distributed outside a company) can be achieved.

Content control
An overview of content control and how it can be achieved.

Content management
An overview of content management and the lifecycle management of content.

Information control
An overview of information control and the maintaining of copyright.

Document security
An overview of document security and how document management and document control systems can help you achieve document copy protection.

DRM Document control
An overview of how DRM can be used to control document usage and how DRM can stop forwarding, stop sharing, stop printing and prevent copy & paste.

Document watermarking
An overview of document watermarking discussing how watermarks can be used to protect documents, including the use of moire images and dynamic watermarks to deter from printed copies being made.

Secure Document sharing
Why access rights and encryption are not enough to prevent document sharing, and how DRM document rights can ensure secure document sharing.

Deal room & Data room security
Why DRM is essential in deal rooms and data rooms to ensure complete document access control and secure document and file sharing.

Blueprint documentation security
How DRM security can help protect your documentation and blueprints, controlling access and usage.

Continous data protection & data security
How DRM can be used as part of an effective data security strategy, providing continuous data protection both inside and outside the firewall.

Self extracting EXE files
Why self extracting exe files should not be used if you are concerned about security.

Ebook Security

Ebook security
An overview of ebook security and its effectiveness.

Secure ebook
An overview of secure ebooks (digital books) and how you can make an ebook secure.

Ebook encryption
An overview of ebook encryption and its role in ebook security.

Ebook protection
An overview of ebook protection covering the different methods used to protect ebooks.

Ebook copyright
An overview of ebook copyright and how copyrighting your ebooks can be achieved.

Elearning Security

Elearning security
An overview of elearning security and its objectives.

Distance learning copy control
An overview of distance learning copy control and how it differs from elearning security.

Elearning copy protection
An overview of elearning copy protection.

Etraining security
An overview of etraining security.

Online learning security
An overview of (online learning security and how it differs from etraining security.

Training course copy protection
An overview of training course copy protection and why you need it to protect your training material.

Web and HTML Security

Web page security
An overview of web page security.

Web page encryption
An overview of web page encryption and how it differs from SSL.

Html security
An overview of html security and what it tries to achieve.

Html encryption
An overview of html encryption and the protection of web pages.

Html password protection
An overview of html password protection, its shortcomings and flaws.

Web page login
An overview of web page login and the security used to provide 'secure' access to web pages.

Web login
An overview of web login security covering single sign on, PKI and password authentication.

Web access login
An overview of web access login and access control.

Web page access control
An overview of web page access control and how it is achieved.