Adobe® Acrobat® X PDF Bible

Chapter 24. Using Authentication and Security Methods

IN THIS CHAPTER

• Understanding application security issues

• Adding password security to PDFs

• Creating signature profiles

• Using trusted identities

• Verifying electronic signatures

• Using security envelopes

Acrobat PDF documents can be secured using a host of different security methods and encryption tools to prevent unauthorized users from opening files and changing documents. Acrobat Security combined with digital signatures enables you to protect data and secure files for just about any purpose. There's much to learn about using Acrobat Security and digital signatures, and it's important to know what levels of security are available to you and what kinds of security you can apply in many different circumstances. This chapter covers a broad description of security and digitally signing PDF documents and the methods you use to protect files against unauthorized viewing and editing.

Restricting the Opening and Editing of Files

Acrobat security comes in many different forms, allowing you to secure PDF files against user viewing and/or editing in many ways based on the level of security you assign to a PDF document. However, depending on what level of security you apply to a file, the document may or may not be able to be opened by users of earlier versions of Acrobat. Therefore, when you add security it is critical to know your audience and what versions of Acrobat they are using to view files.

Methods of security available in Acrobat include ...