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Protecting databases
F
ILEMAKER PRO HELP 483
• Shared accounts are a security risk. For better security, use individual accounts instead of
shared accounts. If you intend to use shared accounts anyway, make sure you limit the
access capabilities of the privilege sets that shared accounts use. Change the password
occasionally, particularly when certain users no longer require access.
Authorizing access to files
As part of your overall security plan, you can control whether other FileMaker Pro files are permitted
to access the
schema in a file (including its tables, layouts, scripts, and value lists) in your secured
solution. When protection is enabled, any use of the protected file through a FileMaker data source
will require authorization. Therefore, in a multi-file solution, you will need to authorize the other files.
For example, enabling protection prevents someone with an account in your file from creating
another file that uses tables in your file but does not implement the same business logic (such as the
same script triggers). The use of this alternative file can bypass your intended business logic
(although record-level access would still be enforced). Turning on this option also prevents files that
are not authorized from opening a protected file using the Open File script step.
Each authorized file is assigned a unique numeric identifier, which the protected file keeps track of,
ensuring that the protected file remains protected even if it is renamed or duplicated. Any efforts to
bypass authorization, such as by replacing an authorized file with a different one, will be
unsuccessful.
Protecting a file and authorizing other files to access it is different from protecting a file’s record data
and other security measures that you can take. See
Planning security for a file.
Setting up access to a file
You can protect access to a file in your database by authorizing other files to access the schema
(tables, layouts, scripts, and value lists) in the file you want to protect. You must have the Full
Access
privilege set for any file that you want to protect and any file that you want to authorize.
A file that you want to protect must be local; however, once you turn on protection, the file can be
hosted remotely. In addition, you need exclusive access to it, so make sure no one else is using the
file before you begin. Files that you want to authorize can be local or remote.
To authorize access to a file:
1. Open the file that you want to protect.
2. Choose File menu > Manage > Security, then click the File Access tab.
3. To protect this file against unwanted access from other files, select Require full access
privileges to create references to this file.
4. If any files that reference the protected file are currently open, you see an alert for each file,
asking if you want to authorize the file. Click Yes.
5. If you want to authorize additional files that are not currently open, click Authorize. In the
Open File dialog box, choose a file to authorize, and click Open.
You may be asked to enter the name and password of an account with Full Access privileges.
You can also authorize remote files. See Opening shared files as a client.
Important If you don’t authorize a file that references a protected file, the references will no
longer work.