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PDF PROTECTION FEATURES TO PROTECT PDF FILES
COMPLETE CONTROL OVER PDF DOCUMENT USAGE Prevent, allow or control the following functions:
- Viewing, copying, modifying and saving documents and contents;
- Printing documents (including the number of times your documents can be printed);
- How many times your documents can be viewed;
- How long your documents can be viewed (days, months, years, forever);
- How long your customers can view a document offline:always; n number of days; or they must connect every time to the administration server before they can view your protected documents;
- Use of Windows print screen and screen grabber applications - stop users taking screen shots of your documents;
- Printing to file, email, PDF format (Acrobat distiller, etc.), common image printers, etc. are automatically prevented;
- Sharing protected documents is prevented since your customers must have first registered with you and have the correct license and decryption keys in order to view a protected PDF file. Decryption keys are stored encrypted and locked to individual computers, thus ensuring they cannot be shared;
- Expire and revoke distributed documents at any time, automatically revoke access once view and/or print limits have been reached, manage offline access, and enforce content management system security policies no matter where your documents are;
- Change the number of print and view allowances even after distribution;
- Enforce your own house style and appearance by ensuring that documents may only be seen in the format you have decided.
DOCUMENT WATERMARKING You can add custom text, system data, and image watermarking to a document. This is displayed when a document is printed and/or viewed in the viewer software. The following items can be displayed - images, custom text, system data (date/time, user name, company name, email address). System data is dynamically applied when the document is displayed and/or printed, ensuring you only ever have to protect a document once in order to customize it for multiple users.
Watermarks can be prevented from displaying on the first page of your documents (useful if you want your cover page and branding to appear unmarked whilst the rest of the document is watermarked) and behind or in front of your PDF content.
User information can be displayed to deter photocopying, and the use of moiré images (available for free download from the LockLizard web site) can be used to ensure photocopying produces extremely poor quality copies.
PDF PRINT PROTECTION WITH DRM CONTROLSLizard Safeguard PDF Security gives you complete control over your PDF printing with strong PDF print protection.
Prevent printing of your protected PDF documents on Windows, Mac or all operating systems.
If you decide to allow printing you can control how many times your protected PDF documents can be printed. Document access can be automatically revoked once this number has been reached.
CUSTOMER AND DOCUMENT EXPIRY, INCLUDING INSTANT REVOCATION FOR PREVIOUSLY DISTRIBUTED DOCUMENTS AND PERSISTENT VERSION CONTROLCustomer expiry
Lizard Safeguard PDF Security gives you total control over when your customers and access to your PDF documents expire. Your customers, for example, may subscribe to one of your publications for a year, and all documents in that publication are accessible to them for a year. After a year, your customers will still be able to view their existing subscription documents, but not any new ones that are published after their subscription period has ended, unless of course they pay for another years subscription.
Document expiry
In addition you can control PDF document expiry. Regardless of your customer's subscription to your publications you may have certain documents that are time sensitive and must not be usable after a certain date. It also means you can sell documents that are accessible for a limited time period at a lower cost, rather than being available forever, enabling you to reach new markets that are price sensitive. You can be sure that those customers can only view a document for a day or a week, or whatever you choose. This feature also ensures that only the authorized or current versions of documents are used after publication because obsolete versions can no longer be accessed.
Documents can also be set to automatically expire once a specified number of views and/or prints have been reached.
Instant revocation
You can also force your customers to connect to the administration server (happens transparently) before they can view your protected PDF documents. This can be every time they want to view your documents or after a certain number of days. If you choose a number of days then after the length of time you set has passed your customers must go back online to gain further access. Using this option you can instantly revoke customer access to previously distributed documents as the access approval required to view your protected PDF documents is instantly expired.
COMPLETE OFF-LINE PROTECTION Your controls are locked into each protected PDF document so there is no need for your customers to connect to the Internet in order to view your protected PDF files (assuming of course that they have the correct decryption key stored on their computer).
Whether you want your customers to connect to the Internet or not to use your protected PDF documents is a decision you make when protecting them.
DOCUMENT ACCOUNTABILITY / AUDITING The administration system records the date, time and IP address of users when they first connect to the server to obtain their decryption keys. It also records whether a user has tried to register with you more than once (i.e. on another computer), when this occurred, and the IP address they were using.
PDF PROTECTION THAT IS SIMPLE TO USELizard Safeguard PDF Security provides complete PDF document security for even the most novice of users.
Just right-click on your PDF file(s) to protect them, set the document rights (use of printing - including how many times, etc.), press the OK button and your PDF files are instantly protected (PDF files are encrypted and document usage rights applied). PDF documents can be published on their own or assigned to publications for simple administration.
UNIQUE CONCEPT OF PUBLICATIONS MAKES DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT SIMPLER The concept of the publication is a way of associating documents that are logically related. Different enterprises may see this in different ways:
- a publisher could see it as the issues in a subscription;
- a training course provider could see it as the content of a course;
- a lawyer could see it as the items making up a bundle;
- a businessman could see it as the collection of documents making a bid
So being able to bring together collections of documents to create a publication, makes the administration of connected documents easier for the publisher, and simplifies how they are used by the user.
If you choose to publish your PDF documents as separate items, then each one will have it’s own encryption key. However, where customers are purchasing subscriptions to publications they expect to register their subscription once and then be able to read each issue as it arrives. Also, you as the publisher may find it easier to associate documents with publications.
To meet this operational flexibility, if PDF documents are protected as something in a publication, the encryption key of the publication is used to protect it rather than generating a new random key. This means that the customer is able to immediately use a new issue regardless of how you ship it to them (eMail, flash card, CD-ROM for instance). Of course if you send them a document that is not part of a publication that they have been granted access to then they will have to connect to the administration server to retrieve the new key. And if you set the rules so that they must connect before using your documents then that will be enforced.
CUSTOMIZABLE MESSAGE TEXT AND SPLASH SCREEN When you set up user accounts on the administration server, users are automatically sent an email to the address you entered with a download link to the viewer software and their license file. This email is automatically customized with your company name and email address in it so users know who to contact if they have any problems accessing your PDF documents.
You can also specify the text that will be displayed if a user does not have the correct decryption key present to view your protected PDF documents - e.g. where they can purchase a license from or who to contact.
Each time a protected PDF document is loaded, a splash screen is displayed. You can insert your own image here (say your company logo and maybe a brief message) to customize Lizard Safeguard PDF Security to represent your company image.
TRANSPARENT REAL-TIME WEB BASED CUSTOMER AUTHORIZATION When a customer views one of your secure PDF documents for the first time, the viewer software will check if it has the correct key to view it. If it does not, the viewer will check with the administration server to see if the customer has been granted access to the document. If access is allowed then the decryption key will be transparently relayed to the client. If not, your custom message will be displayed telling the customer how to contact you and purchase your documents.
NO LIMIT TO THE NUMBER OF PDF DOCUMENTS YOU CAN PROTECT OR THE NUMBER OF CUSTOMERS THAT SUBSCRIBE TO YOUR PUBLICATIONS Unlike other products, you are free to protect as many PDF documents as you want and manage as many users as you want. There is no limit to the number of PDF documents you can protect or the number of users you have viewing those protected documents.
MULTIPLE PROCESSING OF SECURE PDF FILES Multiple PDF files can be selected in Windows Explorer and you can choose the same document usage and access rights in one click.
BATCH AUTOMATION OF PDF PROTECTION AND DRM CONTROLS - NO USER INPUT REQUIRED Lizard Safeguard PDF Security Command Line Utility allows the automation of actions that would otherwise have had to be carried out manually whilst protecting documents through the Writer GUI. Commands can be run from the DOS prompt or a batch file without the need for manual input or user intervention. All the options available through the Lizard Safeguard Writer GUI can be accessed through the command line utility.
Documentation for this add-on feature can be downloaded here.
WEB BASED ADMINISTRATION AND E-COMMERCE INTEGRATION FOR A 24X7 SERVICE Once you have secured your PDF files it is a simple matter of setting up users on the administration system (user name, company, email address) and allowing them to use one or more of your publications or documents. Each document that belongs to a particular publication will then be accessible to all your customers that have subscribed to that publication.
The administration system lets you import existing customer data (perhaps from your accounting system) or you can integrate Lizard Safeguard PDF Security with your existing e-commerce system to help provide a totally automated secure document distribution service. Once your customers pay or are authorized to use a document or publication, their details are automatically set up on the administration server and assigned the appropriate publication / document access rights. License file information is sent out automatically by email so your customers can view your protected PDF documents straight away.
Documentation for this add-on feature can be downloaded here.
Example PHP scripts for shopping cart integration can be downloaded here.
Data can be exported from the administration system for use in an accounts package or CRM system.
CHOICE OF HOSTING ARRANGEMENTS You can either use our managed service (hosted on our own servers so no set up configuration required), or you can host the administration system on your own server (we can even set up the system for you or you can choose to do this yourself).
Hosting on our servers requires a $250 yearly maintenance fee but ensures you are up and running from day one as no server configuration is required at your end - saving you time, hassle and money.
FREE SECURE PDF VIEWER SOFTWARE FOR YOUR CUSTOMERS Customers can download the secure viewer software totally free of charge, either from our web site or from yours or you can distribute it freely via email.
Our free stand-alone secure viewer has a small footprint (so users don't have to spend hours downloading and installing Adobe Acrobat), is fast to load, and ensures all the DRM controls are applied without exposing you, as the publisher, to known Acrobat flaws and cracks. It is not invasive and does not use root kit technology.
GOVERNMENT STRENGTH PROTECTION OF YOUR DOCUMENTS To ensure complete protection of your PDF documents, they are encrypted using industry-standard encryption - the US Government approved algorithm, AES, at its strongest setting, 256 bits.
Encryption allows us to enforce the digital rights management controls applied to your documents.
NO PASSWORDS TO SEND, ENTER, MANAGE, FORGET OR PASS ON TO OTHERS In addition, strong public key technology is used rather than weak password mechanisms that are easily crackable. Not using password protection ensures bullet-proof protection of your documents - since there is nothing to enter the system is not vulnerable to password attacks.
You don't have to distribute passwords to users and they don't need to type in access codes to get going. Decryption keys are transparently relayed to the client computer and stored in encrypted format. There are no passwords to enter, manage, compromise, forget or pass on to others.
Whilst we use public key technology, no key management is required by you as the publisher or by your users or customers, as it is all handled transparently by the licensing system. There are no certificates to revoke when you want to terminate a users access or any other PKI complexity.
Locklizard provides a secure exchange mechanism in order to move the required key down to the user’s desktop at the same time as validating the user’s authorization to receive the key. Keys are seamlessly delivered to user's computers.
Whilst user keys are stored on the user's computer, they are also locked to that computer and cannot be moved. So the user must be at that computer in order to be able to use the licensed documents. Any attempt to move the keys system to another computer will invalidate it.
NO PDF SECURITY RISKS Lizard Safeguard PDF Security uses it's own decryption application (a secure viewer) rather than relying on a plug-in to present your information. This ensures the security of your information is always under the tightest of controls, and is not vulnerable, or exposed to any errors in third party applications. Your security is not compromised by plug-in failures or conflicts.
Read this article published by Bryan Guignard, an Adobe Certified expert on why we don't use Adobe's implementation / Adobe plug-in for protection of your PDF documents.
Information is decrypted on-the-fly and is not saved to disk in temporary format or to the Windows swap file. We do not create extra files on disk that can be copied to another computer along with the protected PDF files so they can be easily shared and viewed.
You create secure PDF documents on your own computer. The source PDF files (unprotected files) are never exposed to a web server where they could be easily compromized.
PDF protection that protects PDF files with PDF DRM controls. PDF protection features include screen capture prevention, pdf watermarks and copy protection to protect PDF files - no PDF passwords. | |
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