Understanding the Importance of Securing Your Database
By now, you should understand the importance of securing your application. Setting up security is a complex but worthwhile process that you can accomplish at either a group or user level. You can assign rights to objects, and you can assign those rights either to individual users or to a group of users. Figure 18.2 shows the User and Group Permissions dialog box. As you can see, you can assign rights for each object. For a table, you can assign the user or group rights to read, insert, update, and delete data as well as to read, modify, or administer the table's design. You can assign different groups of users different rights to an object. For example, you can assign one group rights to add, edit, and delete data. You can assign another group rights to edit only, and another group to view only, and you can deny another the right to even view the data.
Figure 18.2. The User and Group Permissions dialog box lets you assign user and group rights to each database object.

Available rights differ for tables, queries, forms, reports, macros, and modules. The types of rights that you can assign are appropriate to each particular type of object. When you have properly invoked security, it is difficult to violate, no matter how someone tries to access the database objects (including using the runtime version of Access, a standard copy of Access, programming code, or even a Visual Basic application). If properly secured, the database is as difficult to illegally access as an executable file.NOTEWeb site businesses exist that remove Access security for a fee. Although Access security protects you against "honest" people, it doesn't completely protect you against those who are out to get you, your application, or the data that your application stores.