SharePoint IRM – Can and Cannot’s

Someone asked and I lifted the content from the source (reference, this isn’t original content – http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepointserver/HA101541481033.aspx?mode=print) but after taking a moment to bring the key bit to their attention and making it pretty, I might as well cut and paste it here as well…

 

SharePoint IRM Can and Cannot’s…

 

  • IRM = Information Rights Management

 

 

How IRM can help protect content

IRM helps to protect restricted content in the following ways:

  • Helps to prevent an authorized viewer from copying, modifying, printing, faxing, or copying and pasting the content for unauthorized use
  • Helps to prevent an authorized viewer from copying the content by using the Print Screen feature in Microsoft Windows
  • Helps to prevent an unauthorized viewer from viewing the content if it is sent in e-mail after it is downloaded from the server
  • Restricts access to content to a specified period of time, after which users must confirm their credentials and download the content again
  • Helps to enforce corporate policies that govern the use and dissemination of content within your organization

 

 

How IRM cannot help protect content

IRM cannot protect restricted content from the following:

  • Erasure, theft, capture, or transmission by malicious programs such as Trojan horses, keystroke loggers, and certain types of spyware
  • Loss or corruption because of the actions of computer viruses
  • Manual copying or retyping of content from the display on a screen
  • Digital or film photography of content that is displayed on a screen
  • Copying through the use of third-party screen-capture programs
  • Copying of content metadata (column values) through use of third-party screen-capture programs or copy-and-paste action