Security Zones in Access

This is a new security feature available in Microsoft Access 2002. Access uses the Microsoft Internet Explorer Security Manager to determine whether a remote database is located within a trusted security zone. The Internet Explorer Security Manager is available through Internet Explorer 4.0 and later versions.

What you need to know about security zones

Internet Explorer divides your Internet world into zones, so that you can assign a Web site to a zone with a suitable security level.

Whenever you attempt to open or download a database from the Web, Microsoft Access uses the Internet Explorer Security Manager to check which security zone the database's Web site is in.

There are four different zones:

• Internet zone:  By default, this zone contains anything that is not on your computer or an intranet, or assigned to any other zone. The default security level for the Internet zone is Medium.
• Local intranet zone:  This zone typically contains any addresses that don't require a proxy server, as defined by the system administrator. These include sites specified on the Connections tab, network paths (such as \\server\share), and local intranet sites (typically addresses that don't contain periods, such as http://internal). You can assign sites to this zone. The default security level for the Local intranet zone is Medium.
• Trusted sites zone:  This zone contains sites you trust ù  sites that you believe you can download or run files from without worrying about damage to your computer or data. You can assign sites to this zone. The default security level for the Trusted sites zone is Low.
• Restricted sites zone:  This zone contains sites you don't trust ù  that is, sites that you're not sure whether you can download or run files from without damage to your computer or data. You can assign sites to this zone. The default security level for the Restricted sites zone is High.

In addition, any files already on your local computer are assumed to be very safe, so minimal security settings are assigned to them. You cannot assign a folder or drive on your computer to a security zone.

Access will only open files that are located in the Local Intranet or Trusted sites zones. Access will not open files located within the Internet or Restricted sites zones. Changing the security level for a zone will not affect Access.

Assign a Web site to a security zone

1. On the Tools menu in Internet Explorer, click Internet Options.
2. Click the Security tab.
3. Click a security zone: Local intranet zone, Trusted sites zone, or Restricted sites zone.
4. Click Sites, and then type the Internet address for the Web site that you want to add to this zone.

Note

• You cannot add Web sites to the Internet zone, which includes everything that both does not belong to any other zone and is not on your local computer.
• An Internet Protocol (IP) address for a site on an intranet must be added to the list of trusted sites in order to be recognized as trusted, even if the Local intranet zone is already set to the Medium or Low security level.